Merry Christmas

Was putting together an uber depressing xmas mix, but thought better of it.  So instead, here's this:



God bless us, everyone.

New Wavves Lineup Surprisingly Awesome

More videos

Musicians say things:





One of my favorite Bowie songs:



I'm reading the 33 1/3 series on Low. It's really good, one of the better one's I've read. The first chapter talks about Station to Station, and I almost wish the whole book was about that album. It's a fascinating point in Bowie's career, made even more intriguing by the fact that no one can seem to remember recording the album. The record seems really personal and it has the electronic experimentation, the plastic soul, and the glam rock all kind of duking it out.

Eddie Vedder's got some (if you need it)

So this is indisputably lame but, I think I love this song


I know it's just Devo's "Gut Feeling" re-rawked by your dad's favorite alt rock band, but I fucking love it. I love that McCready dances around like Billy Joe Armstrong (windmilling on a P-90 Les Paul Jr no less, although a yellow double cut away is way cooler than Billy Joe's white one). I had to watch it completely sober the next day just to make sure I wasn't losing it.

Actually, the feeling I got was the same feeling that this video elicited:



Oh man, I wanna BMX now. I halfway expect James Murphy to show up at some point, I can't explain why. Also, on the topic of old people, I just read the 33 1/3 book on Pink Flag, and I'm finishing the Daydream Nation one. It's been great to revisit both albums, but it's also been good to see that both Wire and Sonic Youth have lasted long enough to produce even more great work. It makes me wonder who's going to survive our current crop of young turks.

It doesn't look good.

While on the subject of videos featuring text-printed t-shirts

Just a fantastic song. Thanks, David Drake.

Diamond District

Not much of a post, but I wanted everyone to check this out.



The whole album is being freely distributed via torrent sites. I don't know if they have plans to press this up, but they should. Download it here

Why Does Bradford Cox now sound like Julian Casablancas?

Don't Believe Me?

Deerhunter - New Music - More Music Videos

and

WTF

It's not that I hate an independent musician for getting driven around New York while chugging Starbucks, picking up her $1000+ guitar, claiming Williamsburg is the best place in the world, impulsively buying recording equipment on credit, being aggressively boring, all to end the day in a prolonged photo shoot at her gorgeous Manhattan apartment with her pack of poodles in an inch of gawdy make-up.
It's that I get the impression that I'm not supposed to hate it.

Young Chicagoans are more than aware of the tired trixie/chad/Northside vs art school brat/scuzzy hipster/Westside dichotomy. But alas, New York has surpassed us uniting the above into an unstoppable late capitalist nightmare. Give me a tie and a blackberry and point me to my middle management job because I'm packing it in. Anyone want to buy some guitars?

feeling gay

Below are four reasons I wouldn't mind making music that people thought was gay.

Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear


I love how tight Grizzly Bear are. I didn't like Yellow House all that much, but I love the Department of Eagles album and the Friend EP. I hope the rest of their new album will be as heartbreaking as this. Ed's voice has really developed.

A Song For Ellie Greenwich


I want my voice to do that, although I think it would hurt, and not really have the desired effect.

Hazel St


I miss dress wearing Bradford, and a little pissed that I missed this performance because I was having brunch. I don't think I've had brunch since.

Strange Powers


I think I might actually like pre 69 Love Songs Stephen Merritt more. Even though it's not as whimsical, I actually think it's less self serious.

I guess Moz should be on the list but Moz wouldn't be gay if he found a female version of himself. And he never really counts anyway. Also, something that doesn't count:



I loved this song, but would always have to turn it off around the family, although I regret not playing it audibly just to see what would happen. But shit, this video is awful. I'm consistently amazed at Broken Social Scene's unflappably earnest stance. When I found out Kevin Drew wasn't gay, I was kind of offended, although I couldn't imagine why or how. This video finally validates that response.

Pitchfork.tv makes me wanna smoke crack

All in all, I find Pitchfork's venture into internet video pretty entertaining. I like that it's commercial free, I usually enjoy the content, and even its flaws usually aren't glaring or obnoxious. One small bone I have to pick with the site is the usually breathless fanboy interviews (see Justice, Liz Phair, Animal Collective). Not that I feel like these artists need the third degree, but the wide eyed puppy dog interviewers tend to deflate the interview pretty quickly. And then there's this...



From the completely shrugged off show of fraternal physical affection, to his ability to be completely disoriented by a single word answer, Cosmo Lee steals this interview with his black hole of a personality. To Jesse's credit, his comic timing is unflappable. But it's as if his one liners and aphorisms just register a "DOES NOT COMPUTE" in the CPU of Cosmo's humorless android brain. Give this man an original series, or maybe just drop him into Tim Harrington's waste of server space, Beardo.