Must Watch Music

MTV long ago devolved into a collective of reality/scripted half hour showcases for spoiled teenage girls, pregnant teenage girls, and incredibly overpriviliged women who behave like girls. That's a bit general, but the point is that even though MTV long ago stopped caring about music videos, they do still exist. They're no longer marketing tools - no one really plays them on national television anymore. We instead buy them on iTunes and watch them on our iToys.

As the music industry continues its shape-shifting, it feels like there's no longer a pressure to deliver a certain type of video to promote an artist or album That music videos have been pushed to the back of modern-day pop culture's collective consciousness is a good thing. There is freedom. Not a liberation provided by the seemingly endless possibilities offered by the technology of our times, but an artistic uprising more interested in presenting a vision, no matter how controversial or twisted.

Regardless of what the idea of a music video means in 2010, there are plenty of great ones floating in the cyber ether. I've got a few of my current faves below in case you're interested.

MIA - Born Free

It's cinematic, controversial, intense, and a little shocking. It's MIA. "Born Free" is from her upcoming third album which should be out June 29, 2010.



The Morning Benders - Promises

Way too young Bonnie and Clyde clip is beautifully stylized. The same can be said for this song and the rest of the Morning Benders' latest album, Big Echo.


"Promises"

the morning benders | MySpace Music Videos

MGMT - Flash Delerium

Umm...so yeah, this is a big ol' slice of WTF from our friends Andrew and Ben. They are the nucleus of MGMT, a band that suprisingly broke through to the mainstream the last couple years, but have stayed true to their disturbingly twisted visions to make the music they want to make, not what will sell a bunch of records. It's called art and this video is absolutely artisitic. Or something

Return of the Rock!

And the supergroup. And the power trio. And unfulfilled expectations.

Honestly, I didn't set my expectations too high for Them Crooked Vultures. I had every reason to, but have been burned so many times by the seemingly random amassing of individual personalities, so great in their original guises, for the sake of creating a 'supergroup.' Whether driven by ego or just the need to 'branch out' from their day jobs, supergroups rarely deliver the goods or live up to the precedent set by the true SUPERGROUPS throughout rock music history.

Classic Rock is the bedrock of the supergroup nomenclature, historically speaking. Cream, Blind Faith, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and Bad Company were all successful, both commercially and in the eyes of fans.

The last 20 years have seen a few collectives worthy of the title 'supergroup'. The "Grunge" era produced Mad Season and Temple of the Dog, both bands pulling from the cream of the Seattle sound's then-contemporary crop. Members of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Screaming Trees came together to pay tribute to a fallen comrade who left this world far too soon to the rockstar cliche heroin overdose (Temple of the Dog, a one-time only tribute to Mother Love Bone's Andrew Wood) and to dive even deeper into the smack-fueled darkness of another mercurial Seattle figure (Mad Season and Alice in Chains vocalist, Layne Staley, another victim of heroin's grip, though many years after Mad Season made magic with Above.) There was A Perfect Circle featuring members of Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and Smashing Pumpkins, which essentially was the voice of Tool doing similarly dark, but equally adventurous musical explorations.

Then there was Velvet Revolver. The vocal force of Stone Temple Pilots laid over the guitar and rhythm section of Guns N Roses. It was new and exciting for about a week and the love affair (for me at least) was over. This was kind of expected. As good as the music in G'nR was at times, it was Axl's voice/antics/ego that overshadowed the band far more often than should have been allowed. Stone Temple Pilots was the opposite creature. The band was very tight, at times adventurous and inventive; anchored by, but never eclipsed by Scott Weiland's vocals. Sure, Weiland got mad press for his heroin holidazed behavior, but not before the band delivered the goods for their first couple albums.

As much as I wanted to like Velvet Revolver and didn't, I equally wanted to love Audioslave. Unfortunately, I ended up loathing them more than Velvet Revolver. The vocals of Soundgarden meets the guitar of Rage Against the Machine equals dream pairing in my books. The results were depressingly stale; at their best never even fully recalling Cornell or Morello's worst days in their 90's "Rock God" jobs. It all sounded so very predictable; merely an empty corpse of what should have been a new lease on life. Yes, both Velvet Revolver and Audioslave moved a shitload of units and played to audiences hungry for their heroes, but when history is revealed, these two bands will just be the bands that came after G'nR, Soundgarden, STP, and RATM. Four of the best bands of the late 80s to mid 90s. Magic doesn't often happen twice.

Magic rarely happens once, if at all. For it to hit twice, you would need some pretty supreme talent. Someone like Dave Grohl, drummer for Nirvana and head Foo. You'd need someone like Josh Homme, a decent enough guitarist and vocalist who almost single handedly (along with Grohl's Foo Fighters) kept ROCK alive this decade. Queens of the Stone Age had their moment in 2003 when Songs for the Deaf unleashed the instant classic, "No One Knows" on an unsuspecting audience. Well, those not familiar with QOTSA's previous output at least. Since then, Homme continued his never-ending desert trek, making music equally rocking and unfocused. And you sure as hell would need the bass player / keyboardist for Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, who has avoided limelight since Led Zeppelin upped the ante for what hard rock could be some 40 years ago. Yeah, you would definitely need Jonesy.

Well, the Gods have spoken and these three dynamic forces have combined to create a real supergroup. My expectations were met and exceeded with every listen of TCV's eponymous debut.

The first two minutes of lead track, "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I," hint at potential greatness. Tease is actually a better term. But then the song slams into gear and the album is off and running replete with narcotic riffage ala Homme and some of the tightest grooves this year from what I consider a dream rhythm section in Jones and Grohl.

"Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and "New Fang" follow up with more heaviness and are doing something right as both are in the Mixtape's top five currently. "Scumbag Blues" is the sonic love child of Cream and Led Zeppelin; Homme aping the vocal style of the former's Jack Bruce while Jones throws down an organ solo that could be dubbed "Re-Trampled Under Foot."

"Interlude with Ludes" is classic Homme, all desert woozy and dripping with an especially demented sexuality reminiscent of his best QOTSA material. "Gunman" is a textbook lock and load groove fest and every other song on this killer collection sounds like it will hold up well 10 years from now. I personally hope these guys are on album five by then.

RIP Ken Ober

Children of the 80s, game show fans, pop culture fanatics...today is a sad day. No one knows why Ken Ober passed away at 52 today and it really doesn't matter.

What does is that he has died and thankfully, left a lasting impression on those of us lucky enough to witness Remote Control, MTV's first game show in an age where reality shows were relegated to the likes of 60 Minutes and 20/20. Ober was awesome as was the show.

A Girls Album to Remember.

The album is Album and Girls are actually two guys - Christopher Owens and Chet White. There is a crazy back story that is almost too unreal to be true (check it out in the glowing review that prompted me to buy it). More important and impressive than that is the music - a pastiche of sounds siphoning the spirit of a time most Girls fans' parents probably weren't alive for into a modern-day lo-fi aesthete that renders freshness and urgency to .

The obvious vocal points of reference are Elvis Costello and Buddy Holly. Several of Album's best moments feature Owens' earnest attempt at combining the two legends' vocal tones into an entirely new creation. Opener, "Lust for Life", is all Costello circa "Peace, Love, and Understanding," while "Big Bad Mean Motherfucker" shreds like Buddy Holly trading in the horned-rims for a surfboard and a mohawk. That is to say, it's rockabilly gone punk with a dash of sun. The Holly vibe returns on "Summertime," some of the best five minutes and forty seconds I've spent listening to music this year.

"Morning Light" ditches the punkabilly vibe for a two-and-a-half minute suckerpunch of shoegaze - Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club fans will approve - before spinning around 180 with the beautifully spacious instrumental, "Curls."

The centerpiece of Album is without a doubt, "Hellhole Ratrace," a seven-minute slow burner of a track that begins with acoustic sparseness before layering on feedback, bass, and handclaps until you forget that Owen's has been essentially singing the same vocal refrain the entire song. It's cathartic, yet restrained; unforgettable, but subtlety so.

For the initial listens, Album works as a collection of styles. "Morning Light's" fuzzed-out bliss. "Lust for Life" and "Laura's" Costello-leaning tendencies. "Headache's" lounge croon. You get the picture. After about a dozen spins, the idea of styles begins to fade, replaced by a brilliant collection of songs that won't leave your head and an album that, for me, is easily the best debut of the year.

Fucking Blasphemy

Sorry. Really no other way to put it. I'm all for Guitar Hero and Rock Band introducing a new generation of music lovers to some great songs and legendary musical figures of the past. I'm all for technology (for the most part) being the mechanism that brings about such an education. But re-introduce the past, don't re-imagine it. I've played video games for enough years to truly appreciate unlockable characters, levels, and powers. Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi = bad enough. Kurt Cobain approximating Flavor Flav's "Yeah Boy!!!" in "Bring the Noise"? That's just downright ridiculous. Courtney Love, you selfish bitch, you have eclipsed Yoko Ono as the worst "rock and roll wife or ex-wife" ever. I understand providing a future for Frances Bean, but selling out her dead father? Unacceptable. The fact that Grohl and Noveselic most likely had to sign off on this too makes me scratch my head til it bleeds.

Mos Def's Michael Jackson tribute in Portland

Yesterday would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday. Mos Def graced Portland with a nice little MJ tribute complete with moonwalking at his Roseland Theater performance last night. I was down on the floor watching Mos own the stage when he broke into "Billie Jean." It was a nice surprise. Mos did a bit of "Rock With You" as well last night. What struck me is how these exquisitely crafted songs hold up 25-30 years later. They sound as good today as they did when MJ earned his self-proclaimed "King of Pop" title. As for the rest of Mos Def's performance, it was bangin'. The dude is entertainer personified.

Them Crooked Vultures performances from Lowlands Festival

“Caligulove”



"New Fang"



Pure bliss. More as it is appears.

Ahhh...Humbug

The quick back story. Arctic Monkeys blew away the UK with their 2006 debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. WPSIATWIN became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, breaking the mark previously held by Oasis's Definitely Maybe. The album also won the 2006 Mercury Prize. The Monkeys blew up and even "Bet U Look Good on the Dance Floor" was a minor US hit. The critics loved them, across-the-ponders went nuts for them, and the American listening public for the most part didn't care.

Just 15 months after they released their debut, Arctic Monkeys dropped Favourite Worst Nightmare, the band's sophomore release. In the UK, the record's first day sales of 85,000 outsold the rest of the Top 20 combined. The album was clearly a step forward from what was one of the best debut albums of the last 30 years. FWN capitalized on the band's ability to go from aggressively, well-constructed full-on rock jams to quiet, moody ballads, all the while becoming a tighter and more intelligent musical unit.

Next Tuesday, Aug 25, Arctic Monkeys release their third full-length album, Humbug. I've been listening to it for a few weeks and I must say, I'm impressed. It took a while to really embrace the album as a whole, but the band continues to grow musically and stay true to their specific vision. This is a band that won't go away until it's ready. Teaming with their previous producer, James Ford (aka Simian Mobile Disco) and bringing main Queen of the Stone Age, Josh Homme, into the fold resulted in a darker, wiser, and even tighter group than before.

Humbug succeeds as a musical statement of where the band is now and where they might be going. "Dance Little Liar," "Pretty Visitors," and "Potion Approaching" all bump and grind with QOTSA inspired riffage and Alex Turner's witty songwriting. "Cornerstone"is an instant classic - Turner's typical tale of dark bars and darker women, but with the wisdom and maturity that spending three years as Britain's saviours of rock can instill in both songcraft and songwriting. "Dangerous Animals" should fail on principle alone; there hasn't been a good "spell-along" song since Toni Basil's "Mickey" back in the early 80s. The song doesn't fail, but instead, is packed with Turner's snotty sneer and fiery drumming courtesy of modern-day percussive God, Matt Helders. The rest of the album toys with heavy psychedelic tinged guitars, tightly-constructed rhythms, and succeeds in creating a new sound that the band wears well.

The album shows the Monkeys maturing and making music on their own terms. Humbug is the product of a band experimenting with new sounds, both confidently and defiantly. The hooks may not be overtly present, but as cliche as it sounds, the album does sound better the more time you spend with it. This is a band hell-bent creating music on their own terms. I, for one, have spent a lot of time with Humbug these past few weeks and am already anticipating their next album.

Them Crooked Vultures: More to drool over

I'm slowly swaying from my original stance of cautiously optimistic to Mega Fanboy status.
This could be something special if and when it drops. A tour has been announced so an album seems logical. More will appear here as it becomes available.

File Under: Tease

Them Crooked Vultures. John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme together making music. Potential for greatness. The inevitable high expectations. And now, a tease of what can be.

Superfriends Unite!

The term 'supergroup' is getting tossed around as easily as a five-year old in a mosh pit. Supergroup used to mean something. Cream...that's a supergroup. Asia, not as much, but still had some power back in the day. Try to resist "Heat of the Moment" all these years later. I dare you. Then there's the Pearl Jam / Soundgarden collabo Temple of the Dog. That is a supergroup for this generation if there ever was one.

The problem with supergroups is that the cumulative talent rarely fails to deliver the expected goods. Whether it's a case overthinking or disparate elements that look good on paper never achieving cohesiveness in the studio or on stage, supergroups are rarely anything more than a one-off side project fueled by a desire to branch out (read: be spontaneously creative and infuse life into a dying career) that results in bland and predictable output. See Audioslave as an example of all the above.

This year has seen a couple of supergroups that failed to deliver the goods.

Chickenfoot (Sammy Hagar, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, Red Hot Chili Pepper time-keeper Chad Smith, and some guitar player named Joe Satriani). The sum is not greater than the parts. I loved all these guys in their former incarnations at one time or another. Sammy...I got nothin' but love for you buddy, but it's time to stick to Tequila makin'. The cha-ching of cash registers has got to better than the thud you hear when the window of opportunity - and for Sammy it was a BIG window - closes.

Tinted Windows - All growed up Taylor Hansen (no more MmmBop for him), Fountains of Wayne leader (and all around pop song God) Adam Schlesinger, former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, and Cheap Trick drummer Bun. E. Carlos. I expected great things from this band, but aside from a song or two, the shimmery summer pop vibes I'd hoped for were lost amidst sub-par songs. Too much cheese is never a good thing, even when we're talking about straight-up pop music.

So here we are. Another supergroup is upon us. This one is called Them Crooked Vultures. I want to get excited. I really do.

Dave Grohl - some think he's become douchey - I say he's one of the best rock drummers of our time. Sure, the Foo Fighters' records are becoming boring, but the dude still has a little of "it" in him I think.

Josh Homme - some think he's always been douchey - I say he brings a killer aesthetic and some pretty kick-ass riffage to the table. Not to mention the fact both these guys can sing.

I was blessed to see the one-time-only Queens of the Stone Age with Dave Grohl tour supporting Songs For the Deaf. I stood but ten feet away from the side of the stage and witnessed Grohl's thunderous drumming and Homme's 'cool as fuck' axe slinging from the best seat in the house. Chemistry. You can't fake it. It has to happen. And with these two, it happens in abundance.

And certainly not the least of the These Crooked Vultures triangle is Led Zeppelin bassist/keyboardist, John Paul Jones. If anyone says he's douchey, I will not just kick their ass, but I will cover it with gas and set the thing on fire. 'Nuff said.

Jonesy, Grohl and Josh...hmmm. Potential, yes. Optimism flowing through my veins, not quite. I've been burned by the 'Supergroup' before and I'm more than guarded about this one. I want it to be amazing. The pieces are in place. Time will tell if These Crooked Vultures will break the mold and restore a little dignity to the term, well...you know the term by now.

MCA talks about cancer surgery and the support he's received.

As a supporter/worshiper of the Beastie Boys from the very beginning, it brought a smile to my face to read the following in my email this morning:

aug 5 2009

hey all,

hope you are doing well.

so i'm about a week and a half out of surgery now and rapidly recovering from it. i haven't taken any of the pain meds, which supposedly speeds along the healing process, or should i say, taking them slows it down. anyway, i spent 1 night at the hospital after the surgery. the hospital was too crazy to get any rest so i headed home to relax, have home cooked food and hang out with the family.

i'm pretty well detoxed from the anesthesia that they pumped me up with to keep me under for all that time. that took several days to get out of my system. my neck and jaw are still pretty stiff from the surgery, but it gets better everyday. had the stitches out this past monday... so things are moving along.

but no sooner am i on the mend from this first torture than are they lining up the next one. the next line of treatment will be radiation. that involves blasting you with some kind of beam for a few minutes a day, 5 days a week, for about 7 weeks. that will start in a few weeks...

saw the jay-z cover of no sleep, and the coldplay one of fight for your right from APW on youtube. good shit. and i heard karen o wore a "get well MCA" armband, and that q-tip gave a shout out too..... very kind of them.

just wanted to thank them and everyone else who sent positive thoughts my way. i do think that all of the well wishes have contributed to the fact that my treatment and recovery are going well.

much love back at all of you!

adam

----------------------
Jay Z covering "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" at All Points West

Jack White - Coming soon in 7" and 480" varieties.

Jack White is reportedly working. If you weren't sitting down, I apologize. It's pretty bone-rattling news. Mr. Ubiquitous, not content with his rotating rock trifecta of the White Stripes, Raconteurs, and Dead Weather is now releasing solo material. "Fly Farm Blues" will be released Aug 11 on White's own Third Man Records in digital format only. No extra tracks. No fancy vinyl collectors packaging. Just Jack. Just a song. Because he can.

White recorded the song during the filming of It Might Get Loud, a little tale of three guitar Gods and their individual takes on what the guitar means to them. And then they jam the shit out of each other's music. Jack White. The Edge. Jimmy Page. Cross-generational guitar Gods ready for your silver screen consumption. The film opens in LA and NY Aug 14 and then trickles out to the rest of America over the next two months. Full release schedule here. Trailer is below.

New Muse: United States of Eurasia

I see a little silhouette of a man. Scaramoosh Scaramoosh....

This is certainly a WTF moment if I ever heard one, but Muse is generally ambitious so this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

Their fifth album, The Resistance, is scheduled to be released Sept. 15.

They Still Make Videos: Arctic Monkeys' "Crying Lightning"

The haters are out in full force on this one. Pitchfork called it "awkward." The Mensa-ready YouTube reviewer population either don't get it or don't care. Maybe the words are justified. The video for the number one song on this week's Mixtape is as cheesy as they come: a fake ocean tossing around a fake boat while the band probably fake play their instruments. It doesn't matter.

The video doesn't need to support Alex Turner's narrative about the mysterious game at the heart of his from-love-to-hate tale of female-fueled frustration. Turner's always been a good lyricist, at times great. Gobstopper and pic-a-mints aside, "Crying Lightning" is proof that Turner is continuing to improve his tale weaving skills. I think the band made the right call by putting their playing up front - until the 100 foot spirit representations of the band members rise from the water.

The video isn't an instant classic. It certainly doesn't approach the bar that the band's "Fluorescent Adolescent" set a couple years back. But it doesn't matter. The song and writing are another positive step forward for the best band to come out of England since Oasis. Yeah. I said it. The video is just the work of a band confident enough to do what they want, how they want, with little regard for conventional wisdom.

Draw your own conclusions below.

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch (MCA) announces he has cancer.

Sad, though relatively hopeful, news from Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.

I was shocked, as I'm sure everyone was, to hear this. Yauch is one-third of what I consider to be one of the best musical acts of all-time (and genre) and certainly a personal favorite. May the surgery be successful in eradicating the cancer he has recently announced he has. Godspeed MCA!!!

Amazing What Can Happen in a Couple Weeks

Wow. It's been a while since I last posted. Long stretches of work in the "real world" have not afforded me the time nor the energy to respond to the wonderful world of music news and releases. So it's time for a little catch up in a feature I like to call: "Short and Sweet"

News:

Michael Jackson

This was kind of a big deal. Talented icon and legend with questionable lifestyle choices dies, the media collectively belly up to the "teet" of opportunity and suck the issue dry like the leeches many of them are. Expected and sad, both the death and its coverage.

Julian Casablancas

Strokes lead singer joins everyone else from the band in pursuing a side project. Casablancas' first solo album, Phrazes For The Young, is set to be released this fall. The last couple times we've heard from Casablancas, he was collaborating with NERD and Santogold for last year's Mixtape number one, "My Drive Thru" and singing about a "Boombox" with the Lonely Island dudes. If and when the Strokes finally get around to recording a new record, will anyone still care?


Albums

Bitte Orca / Dirty Projectors

A collection of well-crafted songs, heavy on musicality and experimentation yet incredibly accessible. Nine songs that meld together for a complete listening experience in the way albums used to provide.

The Ecstatic / Mos Def

Best hip-hop album I've heard in a long time. Masterful sequencing of 16 gems - each its own showcase of melody, beats, and lyricism - leads to new discoveries with each repeated listen (and there have been many.)

The Phenomenal Handclap Band

Another full-album experience with nary a clunker, though there are slow spots - TPHB could stand to learn a thing or two from the effective brevity of Mos Def's Ecstatic tracks. Overall, a delicious bouillabaisse of rock, soul, funk, and dance elements, high on musicality and creativity. Forward-thinking and throwbacky at the same time.

Horehound / The Dead Weather

Really, is there anything Jack White can't do? Returning to the drums and letting Kills' singer Alison Mosshart handle the vocals, White and TDW come across like a White Stripes album produced by the Devil himself.


Videos:

Kids (MGMT) and Poker Face (Lady GaGa) / Weezer

Weezer completely rule again!!! Too bad it's not with their own material. It's been a while, Rivers.



Black River Killer / Blitzen Trapper

Portland folkster/freakster act writes song about killing, enlists locals to wear masks, and makes a video worthy of a great "story song."



And now for something completely different:

Skipper Dan / "Weird" Al Yankovic

The pre-eminent parodist of my, yours, and everyone else's generation puts pen to paper for an all-original creation, ostensibly to prove he still can. It's a downer of a tale that many can relate with - substitute your job for the Jungle Cruise ride - played out in a poppy, upbeat song that works in a contrarian way, much the same way Al's career has.

Rest In Peace

Today was one of those days. That rare day in history where the passing of a singular figure impacts on a global scale. Only a select few carry this kind of weight. They must be internationally recognized and have contributed to, not only their specific field, but to the fiber of culture; of humanity. Presidents, a handful of politicians, religious figureheads, and celebrities are the primary members of this elite circle. And only a fraction of their population truly can make the world a collective water cooler in their passing. Elvis Presley, President John F. Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Bob Hope...those are the names that come to mind. Today, Michael Jackson was added to that list.

Eccentricities and controversies aside, however hard it may be, Michael Jackson's artistic contributions were significant to the evolution of popular music and is what he should be remembered and recognized for. Michael Jackson, the musician, eclipses Michael Jackson, the train wreck. The number of artists responsible for permanently altering the face of popular music can be counted on one hand. Elvis, The Beatles, The Beach Boys. Michael Jackson is on that hand. That is undeniable.

Jackson was one of the first child stars to become a successful solo star as an adult. Successful might be an understatement. 1979's Off The Wall was the first album to spawn four top-ten singles. 1982's Thriller, well, it was the game changer. Seven top-ten singles. A record-breaking eight Grammys. The album resulted in a global mania for Jackson as well music videos that exponentially raised the bar for that specific medium. The album is one of, if not the, biggest selling of all-time depending on who you talk to. It's a landmark for popular music, R&B music, and Jackson's absolute creative high point. 1987's Bad produced a record five number one singles. That record still holds over 20 years later.

Those are the numbers and they don't lie. In addition to the awards and sales figures, millions of rabid fans worshipped Jackson unlike any celebrity since The Beatles. This is all known. It's a bit long-winded of me to publish it all here. It's that important to me though. This man is a legend. Period.

Personally, Michael Jackson profoundly impacted me. How could he not? I was a child of the Eighties. You had to be Amish to not be affected by Michael in the Eighties.

His moonwalk on Motown's 25th Anniversary TV special made me take break dancing classes and spend countless hours on the kitchen floor in my socks emulating one of the most influential dance moves ever.

I recorded, and subsequently watched, all videos from Thriller. Repeatedly. Especially the landmark video for "Thriller" itself. And the long-form Making of Thriller video. And the Motown performance.

I couldn't tell you what color my bedroom walls were as a child when Thriller came out. (I was only twelve years-0ld mind you) The paint was camouflaged by more than 100 pictures of Michael Jackson from various music publications. I don't reveal that fact about myself. Ever. Today is different. I'm proud I was so affected by the man and his music. He was ridiculously talented and when he (and Quincy Jones) harnessed his brilliance, there was no one on the planet that could touch him.

As a lover of music, as someone who has been interested in songs and their associated mundane facts since I was five, I sit here and type a post I couldn't ignore. (I just started a new job and time for this blog has dwindled the past week.) Jackson's passing is too important to ignore.

I'm impacted as many around the world are. Tears are falling from my eyes as I finish this. The last time I cried for a public figure's passing was John Lennon in 1980. I was nine. I cried when my third-grade teacher told the class he had been killed. I cry today for the untimely passing of Michael Jackson. For the passing of a brilliant artist that transcended labels like musician or superstar. Even "icon" doesn't really do Jackson justice. I cry a little for my own childhood memories that Jackson soundtracked. And for his three children left without a father.

Rest in peace.

First Impressions: Wilco, The Mars Volta, The Phenomenal Handclap Band

"You Never Know" / Wilco

Jeff Tweedy and company are back with the first song off their new album - Wilco, The Album. Tweedy sings "I don't care anymore" to the perpetual generational ramblings proclaiming the end of the world is nigh. Instead, the band channel George Harrison - hell, the song sounds like a Travelling Wilburys' jam session minus the other four guys- with the result being the logical continuation of Sky Blue Sky's laid-back, summery vibe.

Tetrahedron / The Mars Volta

This is the album that will finally break The Mars Volta to the masses!!! No more muddled progged-out sonic experimentation, just straight forward, concisely written rock songs that are destined for future Guitar Hero and Rock Band installations. What you just read is exactly how a review of Tetrahedron would have started had it come out on April 1st. As it's nearing the official start of summer, the first two sentences come about two-and-a-half months too late.

All things considered, The Mars Volta actually have mellowed out a bit. There are still moments of speed-noodling and headache-inducing lyricism, but Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Cedric Bixler, and their interstellar assortment of musicians do gain a bit of focus on Tetrahedron - none of the songs run over nine minutes. "Teflon" sounds like a single waiting to drop and first single, "Since We've Been Wrong," is one of several slowed down, borderline emotional songs on the album.

Tetrahedron won't likely convert the uninitiated to the band, but should appease its faithful fanbase until their next output - quite possibly before the end of the year as the uber-prolific Rodriguez-Lopez tends to release "solo" albums featuring other band members several times a year.

You'll Disappear / The Phenomenal Handclap Band

Close your eyes and imagine polyester and mirror balls. Let the music transport you back to the Seventies where Disco was king, Donna Summer was queen, and the Village People were on top of the world. Thankfully, "You'll Disappear" is a jam that emulates the spirit of disco and not the dated sound of the once-dominant genre. And yes, the song is full of feel-good hand claps the band's moniker suggests. Expect to see this one on this Friday's Mixtape for sure.

Visual Cues

Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective

Merriweather Post Pavilion has been trumpeted about the past five months as one of the best albums of the year. And it is. And it will be in another six months when the lists are made. The album's most accessible track is being released July 7 with three new remixes. That may convert the few non-believers to the Animal Collective camp. If that doesn't do the trick, there's always the single's new video, featuring people in bubbles and enough technicolor trippiness to induce flashbacks to that one time you went camping and had the "special" stuffed mushrooms.




Sacred Trickster / Sonic Youth

The video for Sonic Youth's first single from The Eternal cribs from Gillo Pontecorvo's 1965 cinematic masterpiece, The Battle of Algiers. Check out the following two parts from the movie here and here and you'll see what I mean. It's an updated version, overtly inspired by the film's use of femme fatales and handbags, though the outcome is Smurftastically tweaked.




The '59 Sound / The Gaslight Anthem

A new (ish) video for an old song. Earnest, yet rocking, in its 'Boardwalk sentimentality' and Springsteen-esque narrative, "The '59 Sound" ended up at #9 on The Mixtape's Top 100 of 2008. The Gaslight Anthem has released a second video for the title track of their 2008 sophomore album - the one eMusic dubbed the best album of the year. The new clip is a performance-only take on the original narrative/perfomance combination video released last summer. The new version lets the band kick out the jams in someone's living room and, without any conceptual images, lets the lyrics do their work.

Rock Tacos, Trent Reznor's Twitter Days Are Done, and The 90's Live On.

Rock Tacos

As previously reported here, former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval has indeed opened up Nuevo Mexico, his rumored taco cart, in downtown Portland, OR at SW 3rd and Stark. You can check out the full details here at the best website dedicated to the Portland food cart scene. I will be getting myself a sopapilla there soon. Lest you think this is some random career move, Sandoval grew up around food carts and worked with his mother and grandmother at theirs before being part of James Mercer's backing band.

Reznor Sets His Little Bird Free

Trent Reznor, famously the force behind Nine Inch Nails and a leading proponent of online interaction between artist and fan, is officially a Twitter Quitter. In a detailed post in the official NIN forum, Reznor explains his relationship with the internet and his desire to take a step back from it. He also attacks a sub-culture of overweight female stalkers, sarcastically instructs how to best cut one's self, and speaks briefly about being in love. It would appear that Reznor subscribes to the "less talk, more rock," which for NIN fans is very good news.

Still Going...

As was discussed in today's Mixtape, the nostalgia wave for the Nineties is in bloom (hence, the Nirvana reference). It looks like some bands of that era refuse to let anything - death, writer's block, sibling squabbles - get in the way of flying the freak flag for that decade.

The Black Crowes will be releasing two albums this fall. Fans who buy the all-new material album, Before The Frost... will get a download code for a free copy of mostly-new material album, ...Until the Freeze as a "thank you" for being a loyal Black Crowes fan according to the band.

Gwen Stefani says she's been dealing with writer's block in preparing a new No Doubt album in the latest Elle magazine, but the band marches, on playing shows across the US and Canada this summer.

In a final Nineties music-related story, the drug overdose death of lead singer Layne Staley in 2005 effectively shut down Alice In Chains' career. Until now. The band says they will release their first album of new material in over a decade on September 29. Black Gives Way To Blue, the first full-length studio release for AIC since the band's self-titled 1995 release, will feature new lead vocalist, William DuVall.

Wall of Sound meet Walls of Concrete

Phil Spector, as he appeared in court not so long ago. The sometimes legendary producer, sometimes murderer and his man-fro was recently sentenced to a 19-year prison sentence for the second-degree murder of actress Lana Clarkson.





Here's Spector's mug shot. It's either amazing what stress can do to the hairline or amazing a man would rock a wig like that. Either way, dude is in the clink until he dies most likely.

It's a bit ironic the man responsible for "Be My Baby" is about to be someone's prison bitch. And also, plain sad.

Dear eMusic: I Tuned Out

Rule number one in a slumping economy: Don't raise prices for your product when you are already lagging behind your primary competitor.

This is what eMusic recently announced they would be doing in the third quarter of 2009. The decidedly indie-leaning digital music store (also known as "Not iTunes") has seemingly shot themselves in the foot by announcing that their customers will soon be getting less and paying more for the tunes they covet.

Here's how the price change will affect each service tier:

Basic-tier subscription ($11.99)

The price stays constant, but the songs don't remain the same.
Now: 30 tracks/month ($.40/song)
Later: 24 tracks/month ($.50/song)

According to a piece ran in the LA Times, existing customers will be grandfathered into the old 30 song ($.40 each) a month plan for the basic-tier plan.

Middle-tier subscription:

Now: $14.99 gets you 50 tracks/month ($.30 /song)
Later: $15.89 gets you 35 tracks/month ($.45 /song)

Premium subscription ($11.99)

Now: $19.99 gets you 75 tracks/month ($.27 /song)
Later: $20.79 gets you 50 tracks/month ($.42 /song)

Gun meets foot...check. Not content with this move alone, eMusic then reloaded said gun, aimed at its other foot and shot it with the news that they had struck a deal with Sony Records, meaning you'll be able to download music released more than two-years ago from labels like Arista, Columbia, Epic, and others under the Sony umbrella.

How is this bad you may ask? eMusic acquires access to tons of catalog material via Sony and will potentially position themselves to a much greater customer base. This is a move that positions the self-proclaimed second-largest digital music store to expand their selection beyond their predominantly indie song library. It makes perfect business sense, but eMusic has built its reputation by being the indie-music lover's personal oasis. It's been their defining feature, yet they appear content to not only change their pricing structure in the face of economic difficulties, but simultaneously deflate their own cred amongst their loyal subscribers.

eMusic has consistently been a more affordable online music retail option and appealed to the indie niche, actually forshadowing the rise of independent music labels and artists the last half-decade. While I don't fault a business for changing with the times and doing what's necessary to remain relevant in an ever-changing business model, I do hope that they make one more change, this one for the positive. One almost needs a sherpa to navigate the sloppy layout and non-intuitive interface that is eMusic's site. Put your money where your code is eMusic and tighten things up. It may be your only hope for remaining number two.

Three Strange Vids

Ahh...the video. That seemingly forgotten art form that once captivated a nation and propelled a cable channel to unprecedented stratospheres of notoriety. The paradigm of music delivery has shifted over the years, rendering a once-great marketing tool and artistic medium nearly irrelevant.

Though iTunes has all but replaced record stores and MTV is nothing more than a vehicle for a plethora of shows scraping societal dung from the bottom of the proverbial barrel, it's worth noting that bands do still make videos and some even put a little thought and creativity into their product.

Below are three recent artistic representations of great songs.

Disclaimer: Watching these videos may disturb and delight, possibly causing you to wet yourself. You've been warned.


Heads Will Roll / Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Karen O = most amazing female rock figure alive right now. Usually a magnetic presence on screen or in person, Miss O happily shares face time with what can best be described as the hypothetical love child of John Travolta circa Saturday Night Fever and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. I smell a new dance craze brewing here.




Kids / MGMT

A great song from a great band's first full-length (and also great) album that has legs longer than Bar Rafaeli. This is the song that won't die. If we can learn anything from this clip, it's that Joanna Newsom can act as well as sing and that we really need to listen when our children tell us they're scared of monsters.




Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear

A gorgeous song from one of the best bands on the planet right now. Lush and airy like the voices in Brian Wilson's head, Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks" is approaching the top of the Mixtape and leading the breakout year for the Brooklyn band as they support their third album, "Veckatimest." You can go here to see the guys perform "Two Weeks" sans their inner light.

Christmas in June

With the first half of the year nearly over, a quick glance in the rearview reveals some fine albums that will be contending for best of 2009 in another six months. Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz, Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love, and Silversun Pickups' Swoon are standouts of the past five months.

The past is just that though. It's time to look ahead as we always do here. Within the last few days, a ton of new info about bands we love has made its way on the web. Here's a quick rundown with a little sampling of what's to come for the last seven months of the first decade of the next 100 years.

Arctic Monkeys

They exploded in 2006 with their record shattering debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, and led a UK indie rock onslaught that included Bloc Party, The Kooks, The Rakes, Elbow, and Hard Fi. Alex Turner and the Monkeys returned with 2007's Favourite Worst Nightmare, a very worthy follow up that advanced the sound of WPSIATWIN's more aggressive tracks ("Brianstorm," "Teddy Picker," and "Old Yellow Bricks") while pulling back at the right moments ("505" and "Do Me a Favour").

Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco produced the new, untitled Arctic Monkeys disc due August 25. Below is the tracklist and an acoustic version of new song, "Fire & The Thud."

01. My Propeller
02. Crying Lightning
03. Dangerous Animals
04. Secret Door
05. Potion Approaching
06. Fire & The Thud
07. Cornerstone
08. Dance Little Liar
09. Pretty Visitors
10. The Jeweller’s Hands

Fire & The Thud (acoustic)

The Mars Volta

Everyone's favorite (or not so much) band of prog-rockin', space-jammin', musical visionaries return for another round of musical complexity and polarization with their new album, Octahedron, due June 23. Below is the album's track list and first single with the alarmingly simple (for these guys) title of "Since We've Been Wrong."

01. Since We've Been Wrong
02. Teflon
03. Halo of Nembutals
04. With Twilight as My Guide
05. Cotopaxi
06. Desperate Graves
07. Copernicus
08. Luciforms

"Since We've Been Wrong"

courtesy of i guess i'm floating

The Beatles

Yes, The Beatles. You may have heard of them. They're sort of the most important band in the history of rock and roll. That statement is debatable obviously, but John, Paul, George, and Ringo's contributions to the world of music cannot be argued. Now, the Fab Four will become video game stars September 9, 2009, with the release of The Beatles Rock Band (and effectively boost the band's catalog sales while introducing them to a whole new generation of fans).

While it was widely known that The Beatles Rock Band would appear on shelves in September, E3 kicked off yesterday with a trailer for the game that you can see below. The game follows the band from their modest beginnings through to the bitter end on top of the Abbey Road studios via 45 playable songs that touch on the band's iconic periods and showcase the musical strokes of genius which define The Beatles' indelible career.

Frightened Rabbit sits on bench, new song pours out.

Scott Hutchinson, an acoustic guitar, and a presumably new song titled "Swim Until You Can't See Land" appear courtesy of Off The Beaten Tracks. Last year, Frightened Rabbit's Midnight Organ Fight stole our hearts. Now Hutchinson is making us swoon again with a tease of what new Frightened Rabbit material may sound like. Spoiler alert: it sounds like old FR - a very good thing.

Dr. (Dre) Pepper presents Detox

Well...sort of. The obvious parallels here are Axl Rose (who also goes by Guns 'N Roses) took 17 years between Use Your Illusions 1 & 2 and Chinese Democracy...the latter finally was released last year despite being overshadowed by expectations and the band's legacy. Dr. Dre hasn't released a new album since 1999 so his oft-rumored, oft-mentioned Detox may or may not see the light of release this year. It was supposed to come out several times the last few years, strengthening the record and producer/rapper Dre's own mythology.

Another set of parallels officially exist today. Dr. Pepper infamously offered a free Dr. Pepper to everyone if Guns 'N Rose's Chinese Democracy was released by the end of 2008. The egg Axl sat on for 13 years finally hatched and the soda company did indeed offer a free can coupon via its website November 23, 2008 - Chinese Democracy's release date. Axl instantly demanded an apology from Dr. Pepper for the publicity stunt which the rocker believed diminished the importance of the album's release and sent his lawyers out to do the dirty work. What a curmudgeon.

Fast forward six months and Dr. Dre and Dr. Pepper have hooked up to give us all a little taste (pun clearly intended) of what a beat from Detox may or may not sound like. Billboard reports that the beat in the commercial is taken from a Detox track called, "Shit Popped Off."

Here is the commercial via Billboard. Drink a 40 of Dr. Pepper and discuss.

Wilco: The recently deceased ex-member, Beastie Boys' New Album News, New Releases

Jay Bennet, former Wilco multi-instrumentalist died at age 45 over the past weekend. He was an instrumental force behind the band's 1994-2001 output, notably Being There, Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Wilco main dude Jeff Tweedy responded to Bennet's death on the band's website:

We are all deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will miss Jay as we remember him -- as a truly unique and gifted human being and one who made welcome and significant contributions to the band's songs and evolution. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends in this very difficult time.
-Jeff Tweedy.

-----------------------------

The Beastie Boys descended on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night and announced their new album, Hot Sauce Committee, would be dropping this September. The boys then dropped a performance of "So Whatcha' Want" with Fallon house band, The Roots. MCA looked hungover from a kegger in 1987, but for a bunch of grey-haired old-school pioneers, they sounded pretty good (and the Roots were money as usual).



-------------------------------

New and notable releases this week:

Rose City / Viva Voce iTunes

Portland, OR husband/wife duo release new album named after nickname of city where they live. Oh yeah, they also write well-crafted melodies and tear it up live.

Veckatimest / Grizzly Bear iTunes

Indie buzz band's latest effort which veers from near-perfect chamber pop songs to flat-0ut perfect chamber pop songs. One of the finest releases of the year.

Time Turns Elastic (single) / Phish iTunes

The first song in the second set of Phish's career.

Satellite Skin (single) / Modest Mouse iTunes

The first release for Isaac Brock and company in a couple years and a sneak peek at their August EP release, No One's First and You're Next.


The High End of Low / Marilyn Manson iTunes

Can we even call MM shock rock anymore? Does anyone still care?

Green Day Tops Album Chart, Pisses Off Wal-Mart

As the pre-eminent power-pop-punk trio watch their latest album , 21st Century Breakdown, top the Billboard album chart, it's revealed that they did it without the help of the biggest chain-store in the known universe. Wal-Mart reportedly wanted Green Day to clean up some language and content on the now #1 album before they would put it on their shelves. In the good old spirit of punk-rock, the Berkeley, CA band gave a symbolic middle finger to corporate bully tactics by refusing to clean up the album's language and content. And who needs Wal-Mart anyway? Green Day sold about 215,000 copies of 21st Century Breakdown since its release last Friday.

On a very related note, 21st Century Breakdown is an excellent album from start to finish. Loaded with punk-rock blasts, anthemic shout-alongs, and songs that get stuck in your head for days, Green Day prove once again that it's possible to produce artistic statements accessible to all walks of life. They also have consciously decided to neither burn our or fade away, instead producing some of the best work of their career almost twenty years into it.

In Case You Were Sleeping: Sugar

I admit it. I came late to the Bob Mould party. I was too young and far too engrossed in the glut of heavy metal and mainstream pop that was my personal soundtrack to the eighties, to know anything about Hüsker Dü. My umlaut-rocking band of choice 25 years ago was Mötley Crüe and much like my culinary diet, my musical diet wasn't ready for such delicacies as Zen Arcade back then. But as I graduated from Chef Boyardee to restaurant-quality cannelloni, I eventually progressed from the Crüe to the Dü.

Bob Mould, along with bassist Greg Norton and drummer Grant Hart, comprised Hüsker Dü, a Minneapolis band hell-bent on bringing the noise and laying the groundwork for an alternative scene to emulate. The band, significant for hiding melodies under layers of guitar and breakneck beats on which Mould's scream/singing called home, broke up in 1987.

Mould took a pronounced 180 degree turn on his first solo record, the largely acoustic Workbook, released in 1989. Another solo album followed. Black Sheets of Rain was released in 1991 and featured more of the electric energy that was a trademark of Mould's Hüsker Dü days. It proved a precursor to Mould's next band proper, Sugar, which released its debut, Copper Blue, in 1992.

Copper Blue was the product of a man who found himself releasing an album that fit in with the musical landscape of the time - a landscape that was made possible in part by Hüsker Dü's contributions a decade earlier. The album flowed effortlessly from the opening chords of its full-throttle first track, "The Act We Act," to the "arcadey" keyboard outro of "Man on the Moon." Between these bookends lay an impressive 45 minute career-retrospect carved from the granite slabs of Dü-noise and the melodic moments of Mould's two prior solo efforts.

"If I Can't Change Your Mind" and "Hoover Dam" wouldn't have sounded out of place in stripped-down form on Workbook. Both songs showcase Mould's melodic sensibility, Though often buried behind fuzzed-out guitars, they somehow sound comfortable in their sludgy pop skin. "Helpless," the essence of noise-pop perfection circa early 90s, should have been a huge hit, but as is the case with nearly all of Mould's output, it was appreciated on an insider level and overlooked by the masses.

Digging under the noisy layers of "Slick" and "A Good Idea" reveals some of Mould's darkest moments on Copper Blue. The former dropping the chorus of, "They said the road was slick. I said I've been feeling sick. My head went through the mirror. Why did they send you here?" and the latter spinning a skewed tale of a lover drowning his blissfully complicit girlfriend. Perhaps an aural acting out of the frustrations felt by Mould after being incorrectly diagnosed with AIDS in

Copper Blue, along with the far-noisier follow-up EP, Beaster, and second full-length, File Under: Easy Listening, comprised the entire Sugar oeuvre (save for the requisite b-sides collection titled, "Besides"). While Beaster and FUEL were both great records, it's Copper Blue that remains Sugar's zenith and one of Mould's finer vehicles for his unique marriage of melody and noise that many bands have emulated for nearly three decades, its songs still sounding as fresh today as they did 17 years ago.

Guess Who's Back?

He's Shady. He's Marshall. He's Eminem and he's fresh from a five-year absence which saw our hero/nemesis do a stint in rehab for painkiller addiction. Like so many artists, Em is at his best when he has conflict to serve as muse for a demented mind and tortured soul that's more than happy to bear all through his rhymes.

The most refreshing thing about Slim's new album, Relapse, is the profound absence of songs dedicated to killing Kim or featuring his daughter. Hell, Kim isn't mentioned and references to his daughter, Hailie, are kept to a minimum. Instead, Em goes the pills and kills route, injecting his twisted humor into lines both phonetically and mentally twisted as he slips between addict and attacker.

Honestly, I didn't expect much from Em at this point in his career. Especially after hearing the lead singles, "We Made You" and "Crack a Bottle," both of which sounded like half-assed b-sides. Though there's nothing on Relapse that qualifies as an instant classic ala "Just Don't Give a Fuck" or "The Real Slim Shady," the majority of the album proves that 2004's Encore wasn't the last gasp of a brilliant talent free-falling toward mediocrity.

The album's best songs aren't its singles. Tracks like "Stay Wide Awake" and "Same Song and Dance" revisit Em's alter-ego Slim Shady's homicidal ways, painting him as a Hannibal-esque serial killer on the former and a celebutant-obsessed kidnapper on the latter. Like the best of Eminem's past work, his nimble word play trumps the source material.

"Beautiful" is not a Christina Aguilera remake, but instead an auto-biographical ballad that many critics are calling the best song on the disc. It's an epic that aims for understanding, a breath of fresh air on an otherwise dark album. "Underground" closes the album with Eminem killing off a laundry list of serial killers while sounding the most on top of his game since 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP.

The main complaint with Rehab is the choruses, which are often not on the same level as the verses they support. "Bagpipes From Baghdad" is the best example of a chorus not doing it's song the justice it deserves, but for the majority of the album's tracks, it's a minor gripe considering the fluidity with which Em delivers his disturbing diatribes on sex, drugs and death.

He's still self-effacing and self-loathing. Dr. Dre spits a verse or two and handles most of the production duties again. Christopher Reeves, Mariah Carey, and Britney Spears still remain targets. The album's formula even remains the same - dark and sinister rhymes co-existing with danceable club thumpers and skits featuring the usual suspects - Paul, Steve, and Ken Kaniff are all back. But, the most impressive constant on Relapse is Eminem sounding like he's got something to prove after being away for a half-decade. It's not the best album of his storied career, but Shady's back in a big way.

Shins Drummer One Day, Taco Slinger the Next

Recently dismissed Shins drummer, Jesse Sandoval, already has a new gig lined up. Sandoval will be opening Nuevo Mexico, a taco cart in downtown Portland, OR. Catch the whole story at Pitchfork.

James Mercer, head Shin who canned Sandoval along with longtime keyboardist Marty Crandall earlier this month, might want to stick with McDonalds - the band lent "New Slang" to the fast-food giant's ad campaign earlier this decade.

Animal Collective on Letterman

Animal Collective performed "Summertime Clothes" last night on Letterman and it was nothing short of amazing. AC's album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, has been critically gushed over and declared a front-runner for album of the year when it was released just 20 days into the year. This clips shows why they are also one of the best live acts out there.

It's News to You: Shins and Beastie Boys

The Shins have resurfaced!!! After a period of hibernation, James Mercer spewed forth on a bunch of Shins-related items including lineup changes, a shift in musical direction for the band, working with Modest Mouse, and his upcoming film role alongside Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein.
Read the article here. (via Pitchfork)

-------------------------------------

The boys the boys the beatsy beatsy boys are back. By now we all know that the Beasties never go away, they just take reallllly long breaks. Stereogum is reporting that new Beastie Boys tracks, "Lee Majors Come Again" and "B Boys In The Cut" were released via a bonus 7" that came with the recent re-issue of the Boys' third album, Check Your Head. Initial listens reveal that the Beastie Boys have revisited their pre-Licensed to Ill punk days. Repeated listens reveal that it's just another chapter in a storied career hell-bent on delivering the goods in the Beasties' unique way. More info can be found here. Through a YouTube non-video, you too can taste the new flavor.

Ya Heard? Peaches, Gossip, Empire of the Sun

Talk to Me / Peaches

Ahhh...Peaches. The girl you most definitely wouldn't take home to meet your parents is back with another album full of sexually-charged beats and lyrics. Her latest, I Feel Cream, loses the guitar-based dance rock of Impeach My Bush and focuses on the dance floor. First single, "Talk to Me," places emphasis on Peaches' ability to sing, something that's often been overshadowed by her sex-centric lyrics.

Never before has Peaches sounded better in song, her voice commanding the attention and overriding all you thought you knew about her. She's blunt. She's crass. She's downright wicked at times. On "Talk to Me," she sings her ass off on top of a Soulwax track that will make you want to dance until you lose yours. It's the realization of a near-decade's worth of potential that's been hinted at on her previous three albums, but only now has finally proven worth the wait.


Heavy Cross / The Gossip

Portland, OR trio toils in obscurity for years, releases album that breaks through and makes them huge (well, in the UK at least) and returns with "Heavy Cross," the first single off Music for Men, the album that should wake us misguided Americans up to the minimalist funk/rock and soulful wailing of lead Gossiper, Beth Ditto.

"Heavy Cross" sounds like much of the Gossip's past work - a quietly building start with a cooing Ditto that quickly morphs into a tight-ass guitar and percussion jam with Ditto's bottomless lungs working out a lifetime of frustrations. It's an aesthetic that plays to the band's less-is-more work ethic and showcases one of the finest (and most underrated) female vocalists around. The Brits have a love affair with Ditto and Co. Here's to America catching the fever this summer.

Walking On a Dream / Empire of the Sun

Take the vocal styling and lyrical melody of Tegan and Sara's "The Con," the blips and beeps of hellogoodbye's "Here In Your Arms," and a chorus that emits a laid-back, feel-good vibe circa 1977 and throw them in a blender. Hit puree. Pour into a chilled mug and you will then drink back the deliciousness of Empire of the Sun's "Walking On a Dream."

The verses are nagging in their similarity to the aforementioned Tegan and Sara jam and the song itself is a synth /drum machine concoction that's equally airy and driving, but in a old-school, new-wave kind of way. But it's ultimately the chorus that elevates the song to "Summer Breeze" levels of chillitude and saves the track from being another contemporary example of failed class of '82 new-wave.

Flaming Lips cover Madonna

This is what every cover song should aspire to. The track appears on Covered: A Revolution in Sound, a (surprise!) covers collection celebrating Warner Bros. 50th anniversary.

War Child presents Heroes and Dark Was the Night both set the bar pretty high for compilations this year, but Wayne Coyne and the Lips' (along with Stardeath and White Dwarfs) re imagining of "Borderline" is worth the price of Covered... alone.

Tracklist after the video.

The Flaming Lips - Borderline
Video courtesy of Dailymotion.com

Covered: A Revolution in Sound

1. The Black Keys - "Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles" (Captain Beefheart)
2. Michelle Branch - "A Case of You" (Joni Mitchell)
3. Against Me! - "Here Comes a Regular" (the Replacements)
4. Missy Higgins - "More Than This" (Roxy Music)
5. James Otto - "Into the Mystic (Van Morrison)
6. Adam Sandler - "Like a Hurricane" (Neil Young)
7. Taking Back Sunday - "You Wreck Me" (Tom Petty)
8. Mastodon with Billy Gibbons - "Just Got Paid" (ZZ Top)
9. The Used - "Burning Down The House" (Talking Heads)
10. Avenged Sevenfold - "Paranoid" (Black Sabbath)
11. Disturbed - "Midlife Crisis" (Faith No More)
12. Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs - "Borderline" (Madonna)