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Mute Math’s song “Typical” is available for free download. Never heard of Mute Math? This is what Bullz-Eye’s Mike Farley had to say about them:
To download the song, click here. |
 According to a blurb on IMDB.com, Mr. Spears was planning to launch his new CD, Playing With Fire, with five guest appearances around the US, but lackluster ticket sales have already caused two and possibly three shows to be cancelled. His November 9 gig at House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio has already been scrapped, so no road trip for the Medskers. The crazy thing is, tickets were only about 20 bucks! Even crazier is that the other cancellation, at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, were only about 15 bucks! Actually, I’m just being polite. Accepting fifteen bucks for a ticket, let alone paying it, couldn’t get me to a K-Fed show. |
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When my editor told me he started this bit, I was the happiest person of all. Not only because all CDs come through me first before they are assigned and the pile is as high as a New York skyscraper. But because that means more artists get some kind of coverage. So here’s to you, Mr. Pulling Orphans Off the Pile Man….. NOTES FROM THE ORPHANAGE Avi Granite: 5 (Pet Mantis Records) Sam I Am: Whatever’s Got You Down (Hopeless) Dirty on Purpose: Hallelujah Sirens (North Street) Mushroomhead: Savior Sorrow (Filthyhands/Megaforce) The Beautiful Girls: Water (Cornerstone RAS) Cute is What We Aim For: The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch (Fueled By Ramen) Kristy Frank: Freedom (Ruffnation) |
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With all due respect to Angie, Amie, Beth, Mustang Sally, Maggie May, Alison and the one with the phone number 867-5309, they aren’t the only girls in the pop song universe. Heck, we could make this list using nothing but songs by Material Issue (“Diane,” “Renee Remains the Same”) and Ben Folds (“Losing Lisa,” “Carrying Cathy,” “Give Judy My Notice,” “Julianne”). However, in the issue of equal time, we’re limiting them both to one song each. And, just to spice things up a bit, I’m getting the girls themselves involved: if we have a model whose name appears in one of these songs, you can look her up right here. And please, don’t ask me if I have their phone number, or know how to reach them, etc. I don’t. Girls that look like our models don’t talk to me. The only exception to that is my wife, and I only succeeded with her by getting her really, really drunk. That, and foot rubs. Lots and lots of foot rubs. “Valerie Loves Me,” Material Issue (International Pop Overthrow) “Kate,” Ben Folds Five (Whatever and Ever, Amen) “Everybody Loves Jill,” Cowboy Mouth (Easy) “Laura,” Scissor Sisters (Scissor Sisters) “Goodbye Lucille #1,” Prefab Sprout (Two Wheels Good) “Veronica,” Elvis Costello (Spike) “Who Killed Tangerine?,” Tears for Fears (Everybody Loves a Happy Ending) “Calling Sarah,” Jellyfish (Bellybutton) “The Jessica Numbers,” New Pornographers (Twin Cinema) “Kelly Watch the Stars,” Air (Moon Safari) “Fly High Michelle,” Enuff Z’Nuff (Enuff Z’Nuff) “Celestine,” Kirsty MacColl (Tropical Brainstorm) “Summer Moved On,” A-ha (Minor Earth, Major Sky) “Susan,” Aimee Mann (Bachelor No. 2) “For Nancy,” Pete Yorn (musicforthemorningafter) Bonus track: “Darling Nikki,” Prince and the Revolution (Purple Rain) |
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Trick or treat! Oh, it’s all tricks this week, kids. Seeing how Halloween will have come and gone by the time the next video update caresses your eyes, I thought I’d do something a little different this week. Instead of the usual professional videos gathered for your pleasure, this time I scoured YouTube for some really great clips of regular people just lip syncing to songs in front of their web cams. It’s good and good for you, and maybe you won’t find the razor blade tucked away inside the chewy goodness! So have a great weekend, and Happy Halloween to you all. “pcp lol dumbass boring lip sync” If this is just a joke, it’s hilarious as is. If it isn’t a joke, then it’s twice as funny. It is placed in the “comedy” category, so we’ll give dakingpcp (who made the video) the benefit of the doubt. I dunno what the hell the song is he’s lip syncing to, but the hand gestures and facial expressions are pure gold. “i want you to want me” boybandlover001 hits us over the head while lip syncing (By request, even!) to Lindsay Lohan’s cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me.” This one takes a little while to load for some reason, so give it a little time. You gotta love folks who look at themselves in their monitors instead of straight into the camera. Place your bets now on if you think this girl even knows about Cheap Trick. “Lip-sync” Bendyfreak004 gives us this disturbing video of her lip syncing to Celine Dion’s cover of Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself.” The audio isn’t too good, but that video…ah…what’s the phrase for it? “Illegal in 45 states,” I think. “Cher Lip Sync” lordhazzard (of Lord Hazzard Productions) has a few hilarious clips available, but this one is the best. A perfect send up of everyone who takes themselves seriously when making lip syncing videos. “James Blunt Music Video - You’re Beautiful” No, it’s not the official video, but rather a video made by PetrosBakalyan based on Blunt’s overplayed hit. Why can’t this song just go away? Don’t you see, it inspires people to make videos like this? My eyes! “Lip Sync Madness” vialyone gives us this hilarious lip sync medley. Intentionally hilarious, mind you. “Grillz Lip Sync” Here’s NJDevilBrodeur lip syncing to Nelly’s “Grillz”! I still think Mike Rowe does it best, but this is good and plenty as well. “sexy love lip syncing” alvisjose is really feelin’ it in his lip syncing contribution to the Internet at large. Perhaps he’s feelin’ it a little too much. So many people post these videos with descriptions saying they were just bored when they did it, but we all know this isn’t the case. People wanna be stahz, kid! “me n pussycat dolls” And underage girls everywhere get the idea to do a little sumthin’ sumthin’ like this, yo. darkdeceiver entertains us with some scintillatingly poor pixelated lip syncing, but as she says in the comments section you can just ask anyone if she can really lip sync! “magic_moments” All right, we’ll close out this frightfest with flight0001 entertaining himself in front of his webcam. You have to admire a dude like this entertaining himself and everyone else. It uhhh…throws a bit of cold water on they who would take themselves too seriously while attempting a similar feat. |
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We should have known that it wouldn’t last. Andy Taylor is the first to leave the reunited Duran Duran, allegedly due to disagreements with the band’s management. Here’s the band’s official announcement, from their web site:
Jesus. Here we go again. Now, I’ll tell you why this really bothers me: as much as I love Simon, Nick, John and Roger, I worry that they are overwhelming the band’s sound, and as much as they may not like Andy, they need Andy, because he brings the ROCK, baby! My guess is that he probably heard about the collaboration with Justin Timberlake and said, “WTF?” And frankly, I can see why the band wanted to do it, and why Andy didn’t. Pity. I don’t think things will be the same after this. So, is it too early to make fun of them again, especially Andy? A Duran Duran fan actually tipped me off to these, a series of hilarious MST3K-style clips making fun of Duran Duran videos. As much as I love the band, these are awesome. Best of luck with the next record, guys…but be prepared for people to stop caring about you again. Nothing personal, just the nature of the beast, ya know. I’m sure you remember what it was like when Notorious dropped. Episode Two: New Moon on Monday |
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Like Herr Medsker, my history as a music critic can be tied directly back to one concept: getting free music. I went to a high school journalism conference in 1987, and one of the speakers assured his audience that if you sent a copy of your publication to a record label and told them that you wanted to review one of their albums, they’d send you a free copy. It’s still true today…except in our case, we send them a link to our site, and more often than not, we don’t have to request this stuff; it’s sent to us whether we have any interest in it or not. So here are a few rapid fire critiques of discs that I never really wanted in the first place, but, hey, they were free… The 1900s, Plume Delivery (Parasol): These Chicago-based popsters are a little bit Belle and Sebastian, a little bit New Pornographers, and are influenced a hell of a lot by late ‘60 pop and early ’70s bubblegum. This, their debut EP, is full of lots of pop goodness. Even the 7+ minutes of “Patron Saint of the Mediocre” are full enough of enough musical diversity to keep things interesting throughout. Doleful Lions, Song Cyclops Volume Two (Parasol): This album was recorded in the home of Jonathan Scott - who is, for all practical purposes, the Doleful Lions - in 1999, and there’s never a moment when you aren’t completely aware that it’s a bedroom production. I admit it, the songs - originals sitting alongside covers of the Beach Boys, the Misfits, and the Close Lobsters, among others - are all catchy as hell…but, damn, never before have I wished that I was Phil Spector, just so I could clean this shit up! Jonny Lives!, Get Steady (Eleven Seven): There are way too many punk-pop bands out there who sound approximately the same for me to be able to write anything other than approximately the same review. These guys warrant at least a few extra words, though, because frontman / songwriter Jonny Dubowski seems to be interested in having his band be more than being just the next Jimmy Eat World. They’re not Sugarcult, but they’re certainly better than average…and lord knows that most of their peers are terribly, terribly average. |
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First they skewered Owen Wilson in an open letter to his brother, Luke. Now the guys from Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) have set their sites on Wes Anderson, writer/director of “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” Apparently, Steely Dan is a big fan of Anderson’s first film, “Bottle Rocket,” but they feel that his subsequent films have been progressively worse.
Steely Dan goes on to outline two strategies to “help” Anderson get back on track, providing lyrics to two separate songs that they’ve written for his next project. But before they agree to work with Anderson, there are a few conditions…
I find these letters fascinating, not so much for their flowery words or content, but for the simple fact that these guys from Steely Dan actually think that anyone gives a fuck what they think about a movie. The only explanation I can come up with is that somewhere in this universe, there is a tear in the space/time continuum, which leads to a parallel universe where the guys in Steely Dan are highly respected film critics. And somehow these letters got through…damn wi-fi. |
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I can’t believe it actually took five seasons of “American Idol” for someone to come up with this. For those of you whose worst nightmare involves Taylor Hicks removing so much as one of his socks…you may not want to click the link. Technically, the images themselves are entirely SFW…but the visualizations they encourage may need to be scrubbed from your brain immediately. With bleach. |
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Did you realize when you woke up this morning that it was in a whole new rock and roll era? Probably not. But we’re definitely in a new world, now that it’s been confirmed that Kurt Cobain has dethroned Elvis Presley as the top-earning dead rock star, having pulled in $50 million from October 2005 to October 2006. Actually, I say “top-earning dead rock star,” but, in fact, he’s the top-earning dead celebrity, period; coming in second is Presley, followed by Charles Schulz (creator of “Peanuts”), John Lennon, and Albert Einstein. (Funnily enough, much of Albert’s bucks came courtesy of his name being attached to the “Baby Einstein” series.) Either way, it’s clear that anyone who thought that Cobain’s popularity would dwindle within a few years of his suicide was, in a word, wrong. |
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The drummer/guitarist/keyboardist in this video interned at the office of a friend of mine. God, I’m so glad that this stuff didn’t exist when I was in college… |
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Not to toot my own horn…well, all right maybe a little, but not too much…I now have a groovy podcast up and running. It’s called Sniff The Tip (yes the same name as my webspace) and has its first episode up and running if you’d care to check it out. That is all. Move along, now. |
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Welcome to the debut of our newest installment, Mix Disc Monday. It is exactly what you think it is. We won’t even bother to insult your intelligence by explaining the concept to you. In this age of iTunes playlists and podcasts, we know that you’re a step ahead of us. Fifteen songs about…well, whatever inspires us that day. It therefore seemed fitting that we kick off this weekly event with a timely list of songs whose titles evoke images of All Hallow’s Eve. Most of the songs aren’t dark or scary, but do they have to be? If that’s what you want, listen to the main theme to “Requiem for a Dream” over and over again, if you have the guts. Oh, and feel free to pepper the proceedings with “Bring out your dead” quotes from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Ministry: “Everyday Is Halloween” (Early Trax) The Jazz Butcher: “The Devil Is My Friend” (Bloody Nonsense) Bow Wow Wow: “I Want Candy” (We Are the ‘80s) Squirrel Nut Zippers: “Hell” (Hot) The Killers: “Bones” (Sam’s Town) Oingo Boingo: “Dead Man’s Party” (Dead Man’s Party) L7: “Pretend We’re Dead” (Bricks Are Heavy) Concrete Blonde: “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” (Bloodletting) Dead or Alive: “Something in My House” (Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know) Book of Love: “Witchcraft” (Lullaby) B-52’s: “Devil in My Car” (Wild Planet) Jellyfish: “The Ghost at Number One” (Spilt Milk) Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.: “Creepie People” (The Land of Pure Imagination) Gnarls Barkley: “The Boogie Monster” (St. Elsewhere) Divine Comedy: “The Happy Goth” (Absent Friends) P.S. To see the most unintentionally funny Goth clip ever on YouTube, click here. Filed under: Rock and Pop and Songs and Lists and Playlists and Videos and External Music and Mix Disc Monday Comments: 1 Comment |
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Another week, another dollar, another batch of groovy clips to make you scream and holler. Or something like that. I have gathered quite the collection of eclectic music commercials for you yet again, this time spanning the ’70s to the present. Lots of stuff to dance to this week, as well as a bit of nostaliga for the Gen X kids (which I am a part of). So let’s kick it now with a grand feast of 10 lovely videos for your weekend fix. George Harrison - “When We Was Fab” There’s no doubt in my mind that George Harrison was the funniest of the four Beatles. All you gotta do is watch The Beatles Anthology for proof. While Paul is at his usual taking it all too seriously self and Ringo is just happy to be there, George is lashing out with much acerbic wit. He is sorely missed. I’ve always dug this song and its video (especially the walrus as Paul part) as well as the Cloud Nine album in general. Thomas Dolby - “Airhead” Aliens Ate My Buick is a blast of an album, and it’s a shame that more people didn’t groove to it at the time of its release. But it was near the end of the ’80s and perhaps Thomas Dolby was looked upon as merely the guy who did “She Blinded Me With Science.” So check out the disc if you haven’t heard it, as it also includes the stunning “Budapest By Blimp” and the ultra-groovy “May The Cube Be With You” (which also has a video but isn’t half as cool as this one). Teenage Fanclub - “Hang On” Speaking of underapprecaited albums, the Fanclub’s Thirteen is one such specimen. At the time, critics called it overindulgent and lacking in whatever made Bandwagonesque great. But if I recall correctly, Rolling Stone’s original review of that particular album was 1 1/2 stars. Funny how time changes minds. Since then, Thirteen has grown into something of a cult favorite. I loved it from the start. After seeing this video at the time, I rushed right out and bought it, along with a Soup Dragons album (OK, so that was a poor purchase). I also got to see these guys live at the time Grand Prix was released, and it was a terrific show. Richard Cheese - “Baby Got Back/Personal Jesus” If you haven’t experienced the thrill that is Richard Cheese and Lounge Against The Machine, then you’re nowhere, baby. Here is a clip of Cheese on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” doing a quick medley of two fine-ass songs. His version of “Baby Got Back” smokes the original. Robbie Williams - “Rock DJ” If you hate Robbie Williams, then it may surprise you to know what a truly great album Sing When You’re Winning is. It didn’t do nearly as well as The Ego Has Landed, and that’s a shame. Lots of great songs on the album with this being its lead-off single. Robbie unleashes his ego and has it put in check. Cheeky! Kylie Minogue - “Love At First Sight” Here’s Robbie’s pal and all-around hottie Kylie Minogue shaking it up on the excellent “Love At First Sight” from the equally hot album Fever. When this video made it to the US, a shitty remix of the song was used. Here’s the original in all its…original glory. Disco pwnz. Public Enemy - “Give It Up” It’s Flava Flav and the gang claymation-style! This song remains a groover, and P.E. always had the good thing goin’ on. Thrill as Chuck D. blasts the evil crackhead with the “culture ray”! I don’t think Flav’s clock is big enough on his clay doppelganger. Spacehog - “In The Meantime” Another band that never got its due. Oh yes, this was a mega hit, but the entire first and second albums by this band are magnificent, a must buy! The third one wasn’t so hot, so they knew when to call it a day. But no one excavated Bowie territory better than these guys. Plus they were excellent at adding their own special ingredients to the mix which made it so much more than just some group borrowing ideas from one of the greats. Bee Gees - “Jive Talkin’” By the mid-’70s the Bee Gees were needing something new and fresh to keep them current. Lo and behold, they humped a disco beat and Barry began to sing in a falsetto. The bass line in this fucker absolutely kills. Of course, shortly thereafter the brothers Gibb would pwn the world with their contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. So tell me this, people. On my brother’s original vinyl copy of that soundtrack - as well as on a reissued vinyl copy of my own - “Jive Talkin’” is a live version. However, on the cassette and all subsequent CD offerings it’s always been the original studio take on Main Course. Someone out there please clear up this matter for me, as it’s always been one of the great musical mysteries I want solved! The Ditty Bops - “Wishful Thinking” Here’s another little group that you need to groove to if you never have. The Ditty Bops have their own good time retro thing going on and Vaudeville fans from beyond the grave count them as cool in their books. So do I. |
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Hey, it’s Chuck Berry’s 80th birthday. Aside from wishing him a happy birthday, I’d also like to say thanks, Chuck, for suing John lennon all those years ago for stealing lines from “You Can’t Catch Me” to use in “Come Together.” Don’t fuck with Chuck, people. |
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