Category
Bits & Pieces
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Bits & Pieces
Big Star’s Alex Chilton R.I.P.
03.18.10Big Star was scheduled for a reunion performance at SXSW this Saturday. Sadly, Alex Chilton, legendary leader of The Box Tops and Big Star, was pronounced dead in a New Orleans’ hospital yesterday at the age of 59. He had been complaining of chest pain, and although the cause of death has not been confirmed, it is currently believed that Chilton suffered from a heart attack. The owner of the Ardent Studio in Memphis where Chilton recorded with The Box Tops and Big Star, announced that the band members of Big Star have decided to proceed with the Austin show as a tribute to Alex.
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Bits & Pieces
Hot Chip as Boy Band Destroyed in New Video Clip
03.17.10Putney, London’s finest electro-nerds Hot Chip have a new and clever and pretty-damned-funny video for One Life Stand’s I Feel Better. In the vid, the band are re-cast as a boy band to ponder the following question: Would the band be more popular if they were all male models? Some of you are maybe thinking, “What’s the point in that then, eh?” Well, I guess the point is to provide us with some hilarious entertainment while we consume the track via TV. And fair enough too. To see a boy band destroyed by a bald Steve Coggan look-alike shooting lightning bolts out of his mouth, and a floating head launching laser beams from his eyes and mowing down the actual band, who cameos in the video go here. Do it now.
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Bits & Pieces
Modest Mouse Re-Release The Moon & Antartica on Vinyl
03.17.10Modest Mouse’s classic The Moon & Antartica figures easily in any top rock records of the 2000s list. And for that reason, it’s pretty handy news that the Pacific-Northwesterners are re-releasing it on vinyl for (in which format it has been long out of print) this April 17th, in honor of both its 10th anniversary and this year’s Record Store Day. The jams have been remastered using the band’s preferred 2004 master, but with the original tracklisting, and apparently with the original sleeve design too. The extras on the expanded edition also won’t be there either, but, you know, you can’t have everything in life can you?
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Bits & Pieces
Jack White Working With Jay-Z?
03.17.10For those fans of indie-rock hip-hop crossovers out there (of which there are undoubtedly many), here is some potentially thrilling news. Sounding off in the new edition of British GQ, Jack White reported that he’s recorded a song with hip-hop royalty Jay-Z, “We did a song together a few weeks ago. It was incredible,” White went on, “I played him something that I’ve been kicking around for a while and he immediately came out with words for it. It’s unbelievable-sounding.” There are as yet no details on when this track might surface (hey – what about on a movie soundtrack) Rest assured we’ll let you know!
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Bits & Pieces
Alice in Chains – Last Night @ Metropolis
03.17.10Thanks to Alice in Chains, a sold out Metropolis crowd was transported through time to that magical 90’s decade of music where plaid rules and short hair drools. People came out of the woodwork to see this staple in the grunge era and Alice in Chains delivered the goods.
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Bits & Pieces
David Byrne Sheds a Little More Light on St. Vincent Collaboration
03.16.10After the pair performed Breathing together earlier this year at New York’s Lincoln Center (watch a video of it here), it may not come entirely as a surprise that David Byrne and Annie Clark of St. Vincent are working together. Byrne revealed in a recent entry on his journal that the collaboration, described as “on and off” and having “no timetable”, currently runs to about “eight or so” songs and also involves a brass ensemble. Intriguing. In the journal entry Byrne also goes on to reveal that he’s been working with TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, as well as with Petra Haden and Yuka Honda. Look out for updates here as we get them.
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Bits & Pieces
Björk and Michel Gondry to Work Together Again?
03.16.10Holy shit! You know what happens when a certain Icelandic singer and French director get together, right? Some of the best music videos ever, that’s what. So it will come as pretty damned exciting news to fans of the two artists that at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, Michel Gondry revealed that he was planning a new project with Björk. Said Gondry, “We have a very ambitious project, a sort of scientific musical. …[It's a movie], but maybe more for museums. Like a 40 minute IMAX project in 3D.” Nice.
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Bits & Pieces
Dave Grohl Addicted Actually Not Addicted to Coffee and Totally OK
03.16.10Most of us associate caffeine addiction with those enslaved to the 9 til 5. However Dave Grohl, leader of Foo Fighters and drummer for rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures has revealed himself to be hardcore coffee addict via this humorous YouTube clip of the group in the studio. In the video, we see a totally wired Grohl running around the studio like a madman demanding “fresh pots” of coffee while beating the shit out of his drums like only he can. The video explains that “Two weeks after this video was shot, Dave was rushed to doctor due to the onset of unwanted physical effects caused by too much caffeine. For reals. He was kind of a mess.” The message continues, “Since then he has reduced his intake of the super delicious hot beverage to a healthier level.” Good news for Dave Grohl fans, as well the news that Them Crooked Vultures will next play the Coachella festival on April 16th, and the good news for Foos fans is the group are said to be working on their “heaviest album yet” with Nevermind producer Butch Vig.
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Bits & Pieces
Metallica Announce Series of Megashows for 2011
03.16.10Metallica is a band who dramatically expanded their appeal by submitting to the very 2000’s reality TV treatment in their hilariously excellent Some Kind of Monster film. Good news for hardcore fans though: The band have announced they are to play a series of megashows in 10 cities throughout 2011, set to ‘blow your mind’. Manager Peter Mensch has compared the magnitude of the shows to legends Pink Floyd’s epic The Wall Tour. Infamously, Pink Floyd’s The Wall ended with a disillusioned Roger Waters spitting in a fan’s face after the tumbling of a 40-ft synthetic wall prop. Hopefully the Metallica shows won’t end the same way, although if Some Kind of Monster is anything to go by, there may be a whole lot of tears, bear hunting breaks and lucrative shitty-art auctions first!
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Bits & Pieces
Wayne Coyne on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!
03.16.10WTF? Those half dozing their hungover way through ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Sunday may have noticed Wayne Coyne, leader of Oklahoman psych-freak rock group The Flaming Lips popping up on screen just to lend a hand in building a new home for a needy family. In this case, fellow Oklahomans: the Skaggs family. You can check him out in homebuilder guise here. Good on ya Wayne.
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Bits & Pieces
Milow – Last Night @ L’Astral
03.16.10Milow was timid but endearingly enchanting last night at L’Astral as he sang away with candour and vitality… glorious images and words to ensue.
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Bits & Pieces
Alice in Chains – Tonight @ Metropolis
03.16.10Remember the 90’s? Neither do Alice in Chains. It’s been over 15 years, a ton of drugs and one lost singer since they’ve returned to Montreal, and the boys, now older and wiser, are poised to bring back the glory.
With special guest: Middle Class Rut
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Bits & Pieces
Trippy New Devendra Video Features MGMT and The Strokes Members, Plus GZA
03.15.10Check out Devendra Banhart’s new video for the single Baby, directed by Ron Winter. It all starts out pretty normally, a bunch of dudes (or Devendra, MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and The Strokes‘ Fabrizio Moretti to be exact) walking around a non-descript North American city, that is until they’re beamed up into a gray tubular spaceship and through some sort of strange orifice… which is when things get tripped out, with aliens and babies and even GZA turning up dressed as a pharaoh… See and believe!
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Bits & Pieces
Ryan Adams Gets Book of Candid Photographs
03.15.10Ever wondered what Ryan Adams gets up to on tour behind the scenes? My bet is that a lot of cigarettes get smoked, a bunch of Cheetos get eaten and other a whole load of other fascinating things go down. Still, what do I know? Neal Casal, photographer and erstwhile member of Adams’ last band The Cardinals knows the truth, shooting as he did ‘thousands’ of shots of the alt-country star whilst on tour, backstage and in the studio. Those photographs have been collected into a large book entitled Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: A View of Other Windows released by publisher Abrams Image. Behind the cover we find Adams bro-ing down with Willie Nelson and Henry Rollins or kicking it with other half Mandy Moore on the sofa, a must-have treat for those who’ve always wondered what goes on behind the stage door.
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Bits & Pieces
Musical Stars Donate Personal Items for Haiti Auction
03.15.10Continuing the generosity shown by the musical community in donating to help Haiti get back on its feet following January’s disastrous earthquake, a new online auction Crafts For A Cause has been set up by Little Joy’s Binki Shapiro. The auction will feature very cool and one-of-a-kind items donated by musicians, with all proceeds going to Artists for Peace and Justice. Those interested in getting their hands on some personalized goodies from Daft Punk (DP figurines), Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste (the guitar he learned to play on), Vampire Weekend (gym bag), The Strokes (wallet), Jenny Lewis (tote bag), Conor Oberst (his first Fender), Devendra Banhart (piece of artwork), Fleet Foxes‘ Robin Pecknold (t-shirt), Cat Power (painting), Feist (t-shirt), and more. You can see pictures of all the items here, and bid right here. Good luck, and donate generously!
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Bits & Pieces
Massive Attack Make Video Addressing Music as Torture Technique
03.15.10Believe it or not, music can be an instrument of torture. And no, I’m not talking about being subjected to Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi on repeat for 5 hours. There are actually prisons that use extremely loud music as a way of tormenting their prisoners during the interrogation process. Massive Attack have chosen to address the topic in their new video for Damon Albarn collaboration Saturday Come Slow. The piece, more akin to short film includes first-person testimony and scientific discussion of the use of this kind of torture, and eventually the music itself is manipulated for us to see its effects. Watch all eight minutes of the clip here.
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Bits & Pieces
Video for The Lonely Island Boombox Featuring Julian Casablancas
03.15.10Here is the bizarre new video from The Lonely Island for Boombox featuring The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas from last year’s Incredibad album. The ode to the power of the Boombox starts in a country club where the stuffy diners are brought out of their collective comas by a ghetto-blaster toting pied piper. Talk of boiled goose and sauerkraut – which made me feel slightly queasy – ensues until everyone is out in the streets of Manhattan dancing to the catchy tune featuring one of Casablancas’ catchiest vocal turns to date. Oh, and fans of fingerless gloves will be stoked.
