Brooklyn Vegan Hosting What Could Be Unquestionably the Hippest Haiti Fundraiser Possible, With Zach Galifianakis, Britt Daniel, Justin Vernon, and St. Vincent – The Only Way This Could Get Hipper Is if Win and Regine Butler Engaged Physically Onstage and Called It “Art” (But Seriously, Go To This. $45 At the Door) [Brooklyn]
Stream Grizzly Bear Covering Hot Chip’s “Boy From School,” Stripping It Down to a Haunting Yellow House Era Dirge, Uncovering Hot Chip as Apparently Brilliant Pop Arrangers, Surprising Every Single Person Who Has Listened to Music. Ever. [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Joanna Newsom’s Have One On Me Has Been Revealed to Be 3-Discs Long, Thus Causing It’s Title to Be Paradoxical; Released February 23 [NME]
Stream What Could Possibly Be a New Song From Daft Punk, “Fragile,” Which Popped Up on a Daft Punk Fansite, and is Allegedly Appearing on the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack. As It Sounds Like it Was Crafted By the Cold, Metallic Hands of Overtly Powerful Robots, I’m Willing to Believe It’s True [Idolator]
Stream Prince’s Minnesota Vikings Fight Song, “Purple and Gold,” Which Will Get Absolutely No Vikings Fans Psyched, and, Knowing Football Fans, Will Result in Many Homophobic Insults Tossed Out at this “Lil Fairy’s Jam” [Spin]
News Slow. I, Like Pitchfork, Take Time to Announce That the Decemberists and Mastodon Recently Faced Off in Bumpercars. We Have Fun. [Pitchfork]
Stream Peter Gabriel Covering the Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage,” Which Should Not Be Played In Front of Your Potential Lovers House Out of a Boombox, If You Expect to “Get the Girl” [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Vampire Weekend is Number One on the Billboard Charts; I Still Claim They Have Many Hurdles to Get Past the ‘Blog Backlash,’ or Can Willfully Ignore It and Begin Sleeping in Piles of Sweet, Sweet Cash that Wasn’t Inherited From a Trust Fund [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch Video For Beach House’s “10 Mile Stereo,” Which Looks and Sounds Nothing Like an 8 Mile Stereo, Though You’ll Likely “Lose Yourself in the Music”…Elsewhere, I Apologize For a Dated and Sad Joke [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Gorillaz Debut Plastic Beach Cover Art: An Image of a Plastic Beach (Basically, a Beach Carved Out of those Wax Machines You’d Beg Your Parents to Let You Use at the Zoo); Plastic Beach Released March 9. Stream “Stylo,” Featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack; Unsurprisingly, It’s a Bowie-Esque Sex Jam [Idolator]
Watch Spoon Play “Written in Reverse,” on Conan, the Lead Single off Transference, Which Was Released Yesterday. Mostly, Though, Just Watch Conan. Dude Has Very Little Airtime Left (And, If You’ve Seen Spoon Once, You’ve Seen Them Too Many Times) [Spin]
Brian Jonestown Massacre Announce U.S. Tour, Supporting the Upcoming Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?; Obviously, Anton and the Rest of the BJM Are Still Too Messed Up to Realize The Police Caught Mark David Chapman in 1980 [NME]
Listen to Thom Yorke Co-Host a Radio Show for BBC Radio 1; Because You Too Can Senselessly Waste Time Virtually Stalking Thom Yorke as the People Over At [Pitchfork] Do (Seriously Though, This Shit’s Boring)
Brooklyn’s Own Golden Triangle Announce Debut Full Length LP Double Jointer, Which Will Most Certainly Be Abrasively Fashionable (If You Need Convincing, Stream This…The Girls Sound Pretty Good Fully Produced (Though I’m Pretty Sure There is Not a Place Called Neon Noose)) [Prefix]
Raekwon Promises Two Albums in 2010, After Taking Well Over a Decade to Follow Up Cuban Linx; He Also Encourages Us to “Rt this crack….,” Which Either Refers to a Tweet as Crack (Funny), or Encourages the Spread of Crack-Cocaine Via the Web (Funnier) [Tiny Mix Tapes]
compiled by Max Sebela
Teddy Pendergrass, 59, Soul Singer of “Turn off the Lights,” Passes Away [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream “Slivers of You” and “Hubbsian Lament,” Two New Demos From L.A.’s Pearl Harbor, Which Sounds Almost Nothing Like the Beginning of U.S.’s Involvement in World War II (Almost) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch Video For Air’s “So Light is Her Footfall,” Which Features Very Little Light Foot Work…and Few Feet In General [Spin]
Jay Reatard’s Death Being Investigated as Homicide…This is Not a Funny Day For News, Apparently [Pitchfork]
Brooklyn Venue Monkeytown Will Close in 11 Nights, With Woods Family Creeps (The Dudes From Woods’ Jam-Band Side Alter Ego Band) Playing the Final Night…Will Most Likely Be Replaced By a “Cool” Coffee Shop, or a “Cool” Thai Restaurant…or a “Cool” T.G.I. Friday’s [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch Puppet Filled Video For Dan Deacon’s “Woof Woof,” Which is Either Horrifying, Brilliant, or Just Plain Stupid (But Made Me Second Guess Eating Any Form of Breakfast Cereal. That Cereal Could Be Poison, or Cause My House to Randomly Implode) [Pitchfork]
Stream RJD2’s Upcoming Album The Colossus on Myspace Right Now! Do It! It’s Dubby and Bassy and Shit! Elsewhere, I Stop Focusing on Details/Quality Writing in My News Picks [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
Garage Rock Prodigy Jay Reatard, 29, Passes Away in His Sleep [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream “Girls FM” From Latest 70s Revival Band, “Happy Birthday,” Which Sounds Enough Like Girls That I’m Willing to Bet “Girls FM” Actually Refers to the Band Girls Having Their Own Radio Station, Consisting of Heartbreakingly Genuine, But Increasingly Tiresome, Pop [Gorilla vs. Bear]
New Joanna Newsom Album Confirmed; Unsure of Whether It Will Feature Monkeys, Bears, Medieval Lost Cities, and Other Thoughts of Magic and Whimsy; Have One On Me Released February 23 [NME]
Stream Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell’s Duet With Emerging Singer-Songwriter Courtney Jaye on a Cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Sometimes Always;” Grow Disturbed Over the Chosen Color Palette On Courtney Jaye’s Myspace…Feel Needlessly Concerned That Such a Woman is Covering Jesus and Mary Chain [Pitchfork]
The Final Edition of Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, American VI: Ain’t No Grave To Be Released February 26, Featuring a Sheryl Crow Cover, a Kris Kristofferson Cover, and a Cash Original Called “I Corinthians: 15:55” (A Bible Verse Which Reads “Where, O Death, is Your Victor? Where, O Death, is Your Sting” – Cash Still Extremely Bad Ass, Even From the Grave [Prefix]
Hey, You Love MGMT?…No, Not Really?…Okay, You Love Indie Rock Memorabilia?…No, I Guess Not, Either…Uhh…You Love Monsters! Yeah, I Know You All Saw The Happening, and Love Getting Spooked. Well Here’s Your Chance to Own All the Monsters From MGMT’s “Kids” Video, and Scare the Piss Out of Your…Kids. [Pitchfork]
Stream an Updated, Rerecorded Version of Dum Dum Girls, “Jail La La,” off Their Upcoming Full-Length I Will Be Released March 30 (This Music Is Impossible to Listen to When You Aren’t Being Baked By Sun/Weed/Pabst/…Kiln?) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
compiled by Max Sebela
Okkervil River to Play as Roky Erickson’s Backing Band on New Album, True Love Cast Out All Evil; I Struggle to Make Meaningful Connection With Roky Erickson Outside of the First Four Minutes of High Fidelity; I Question My Own Dedication to “The Pop Canon” [Pitchfork]
Mysterious Drawing of a Small Man Hanging Out Under Woman’s Dress Somehow Indicates Joanna Newsom May or May Not Have a Record Coming Out on February 23rd; My Last Sentence Remains Almost Impossible to Decipher (But I Hope It Is True) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
MySpace Music Announces Track List For Almost Alice, Which is an Album of Quasi-Christian Angst Pop Inspired by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Designed to Be Sold in the 15 Remaining Hot Topic Franchises That Haven’t Yet Fired All Their Employees; Owl City, All Time Low, and 3Oh!3, and Avril Lavigne All Appear On It [Myspace]
Stream the Jangly “Can’t Explain,” From Swedish Euro-Mope-Pop Band Shout Out Louds…Come to Eureka-Type Realization That “Euro-Mope-Pop” Best Abbreviates to “Europe”…Get Psyched on Your Own Stream of Consciousness. Work, Shout Out Louds’ First Album Since 2007, Released February 23 [Spin]
Julian Casablancas Says Strokes Are Working Day and Night on New Album; Prefers “Ramen Noodle Soup” to “Diner Food;” Wears “T-Shirts;” Elsewhere, New York Magazine Publishes Senselessly Banal Article About Julian Casablancas [New York Magazine]
Stream “Cranberry,” the First Single off New Zealand Psych-Pop Outfit The Ruby Suns’ Upcoming LP Fight Softly, Which is Deliriously Tribal and Oscillating, and Really Quite Good. No Joke. [Pitchfork]
Stream “End Times,” the Title Track off Eels’ Upcoming Album End Times (Released Next Tuesday), Which Made Me Feel Terribly, Terribly Sad, is Beautifully Written, and Sounds As If It Could Only Have Been Performed By a Heavily Bearded Version of Mark Everett [Stereogum]
M.I.A. Drops a Possible Taste of Her New Album, Called “There’s Space for Ol Dat I See,” That is Absolutely Awful [Gorilla vs. Bear]
compiled by Max Sebela
Stream Joy Orbison’s New EP, The Shrew Would Have Cushioned the Blow, Which Mostly Consists of the Same Drum Beat Playing For Eight to Twelve Minutes, Before Your Neurological System Completely Shuts Down, Rendering the Rest of the EP to a Indeterminable Quality [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream Two Unreleased Songs From Sweden’s JJ, Neither of Which Feature Samples of Dudes Taking Hits From Bongs, Thus Fulfilling The Album Cover of n° 2, Fans Pleased With the Music, But Noticeably Not Baked [Gorilla vs. Bear]
British Pop Duo Goldfrapp Announce New Album, Head First, Which Prominently Features an Enormous Disembodied Head, Thus Making Album Title Appropriate and Well Executed [Idolator]
Pavement Set to Headline Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago; Readers of Pitchfork Think to Selves “That is So Pitchfork, Pavement is So Reminiscent of Pavement” [Consequence of Sound]
Download New Dirty Projectors 7-Inch, Acending Melody, Because No One of Any Influence Will Respect You if You Don’t [Spin]
Stream All of Spoon’s Upcoming Album, Transference (But I Can Save You a Little Bit of Time: It Sounds Like 70s Rock and Roll, and Features Heavy Amounts of Funk, With a Dude Throatily Whinin — It Sounds Like Spoon…You Get It) [NPR]
Los Angeles Glitz-Disco (Glitzco?) Band Music Go Music Announce Debut Album Expressions, Which, If Anything Like “Warm in the Shadows,” Will Define Enormous, Sweaty Periods of Your Life [NME]
Mute Set to Reissue a Bunch of Buzzcock Albums; Williamsburg Crusty Punks Psyched, But Unable to Express This Due to Years of Heroin Abuse and Hearing Loss Caused By Heavy Listening to the Buzzcocks [Pitchfork]
New M.I.A. Album This Summer. Get Psyched. [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Announce Fourth Full-Length, I Learned the Hard Way, Released May 4th (And From the Look of the Cover, There are Far More “Dap-Kings” Than I’ve Ever Seen Before…I’m Not So Sure Those Men are Actually Kings at All) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch New Animal Collective Video For Merriweather Highlight “Brothersport,” Which Features a Shit Ton of Paint, a Shit Ton of Children, Some Tribal Stuff, and Fingerpainting; Elsewhere, Animal Collective Has Managed to Make All Bizarre Imagery Cliché; They Should Release a Video in Which They Just Play a Fucking Song, Smiling at the Camera [Youtube]
Stream Solid (Read: Boring) Best Coast Single “Up All Night” Off the Upcoming Jeans Wilder/Best Coast Split 7-Inch; Released January 18 (But Limited to Like 350 Copies, So Don’t Expect to Pick That One Up Anytime Soon) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Two Choices For Celebrating Elvis Presley’s Would-Be 75th Birthday: Stream Lightspeed Champion’s Fanboy Cover of “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise” or Fry Up a Ham and Peanut Butter Sandwich and Lay Comatose on a Solid Gold Toilet for 6-9 Hours, Understanding How It Felt to be King [Spin]
Watch Vampire Weekend Do MTV Unplugged, Which Has Apparently Been Reduced to an Exclusive Series of Web Videos (Though, Vampire Weekend Still Look Super Night Out at the Polo Grounds Chic [MTV]
New Jersey Emo Band The Wrens Claim That They Will Actually Release an Album this Year, After Claiming to Release an Album Last Year, after Claiming to Release an Album the Year Before That, after Five Years Had Passed Since Their Previous Album; Elsewhere, Charles Bissel is a LIAR, and I am Crying [Pitchfork]
Stream 78-Minute Exclusive Four Tet Mix Much Love to the Plastic People…Dance By Yourself. Feel Ashamed. Invite Someone Over. Dance Together. Fall in Love. [Four Tet]
Blonde Redhead Providing the Score t the Dungeons and Dragons Documentary The Dungeon Masters, Which is Set For Release This February, and Looks Hilarious, Featuring a Woman Painted Completely in Dark-Gray Paint…Elsewhere, I Used to Play D&D. Deal With It. [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
Midwestern Literary-Alcoholic Emo Band Cursive to Tour With Midwestern Macabre-Alcoholic Emo Band Alkaline Trio, Which Heavily Appeals to the 15-Year Old Bukowski Reader in All of Us; Hit New York on March 12 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream Dreamy, Slightly Tribal Track “Icarus” From Portland’s White Hinterland, Which Features a Healthy Amount of Off-Putting “Oooh Oooh Oooh”-s; Kairos Due Out March 9 on Dead Oceans [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Billy Corgan Launches New Label Imprint In Order to Release New Tracks From Punk Legends the Germs, Seemingly the Most Authentic Thing Corgan Has Done In Years; Elsewhere, Corgan is Apparently Dating Jessica Simpson. Not to Criticize Other People’s Relationships, But From Repeatedly Viewing Re-runs of Her and Nick Lachey’s Newlyweds on MTV, I’m Moderately Sure Simpson is Incapable of Feeling Real Emotion, and May Lack Perpetual Consciousness…One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Billy [Spin]
In List of People Least Likely to Produce Proto-Punk Pioneers Devo, Santigold Ranks Fairly High, Right Below Hank Williams the First (Who is Dead, In Case You Didn’t Hear About It); Yes, This Headline Implies That is Happening [NME]
Stream WHY?’s Yoni Wolf Doing a Stripped Down Daytrotter Session, Featuring Three Tracks off Last Year’s Eskimo Snow, Which Should Not Be Consumed By Anyone Feeling Even Moderately Melancholy/Still Disappointed They Didn’t Get That PS3 Slim for Christmas [Daytrotter]
Thom Yorke, Tunde Adebimpe, Bradford Cox, and More to Remix Liars’ Upcoming Sisterworld on a Bonus Disc to Be Released With the Album. This is Cool. [Pitchfork]
Xiu Xiu Continues Possible Melodramatic Self-Parody With Release of Upcoming Dear God, I Hate Myself, By Packaging it With Homemade Chocolate (Ooh! Lovely!) and “Xiu Xiu for Life” T-shirts Printed in Real Blood (Ooh!…Bitter Irony…?) [Prefix]
Watch New RJd2 Video for “Let There Be Horns,” Which Stars a Minotaur. This is Also Cool. [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
