Author: David Medsker (Page 65 of 96)

DMed’s Video of the Week: The White Stripes, “Conquest”

November 30, 2007 / David Medsker

The White Stripes cannot have been amused when eBay decided to use Patti Page’s “Conquest” for a recent commercial involving a group of potential bidders racing down a dog track for an item. The band’s newest single is, yep, a cover of Page’s “Conquest,” which makes them look like opportunists — hey, look at us, we’re covering that wacky song from the eBay commercial! — but I think it is in fact eBay’s ad agency doing the, um, opportuning. I’m willing to wager that someone in the creative department was listening to Icky Thump, heard the White Stripes’ version of the song and thought, “We totally have to get this.”

Regardless, the Whites came up with an obvious but amusing video for the song, featuring Jack as a matador who just can’t bring himself to finish the job. He even trained with matadors to make it look authentic. Ah, the life of a rock star. “What are you doing today?” “Working with a matador.” Don’t let Us Weekly fool you: stars are not just like us.

Alternative, Artists, External Music, Rock, Seen Your Video, Songs, Videos

DMed’s Video of the Week: Minipop, “Like I Do”

November 23, 2007 / David Medsker

I am surely dating myself by saying this, but I miss the days when bands like Minipop ruled modern rock radio. Shimmering, hypnotic dream-pop guitars supporting a female lead that didn’t have the strongest voice but had an alluring voice and something to say…ah, good times. I know very little about Minipop other than this fabulous, “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight”-style video, but the record is on its way to me, and I can’t wait to hear it.

Alternative, Artists, External Music, Pop, Rock, Rock Babes, Seen Your Video, Songs, Videos

Ruby Tuesday: Simple Minds, “Stranger”

November 20, 2007 / David Medsker

It’s August 2005, and a press release lands in my inbox about an upcoming Simple Minds album, Black & White 050505. I’m rightfully skeptical, since the last album I had bought from the band, the 2001 covers album Neon Lights, was up there (down there?) with Duran Duran’s Thank You as one of the worst covers albums (worst albums?) of all time. But my love for the holy trinity of New Gold Dream, Sparkle in the Rain and Once Upon a Time ruled out, and I requested a copy, hoping against hope that they would not disappoint me yet again.

And holy smokes, was I glad I did. The album is amazing, easily their best work since Once Upon a Time and quite possibly better. Suddenly, I can’t wait for this album to come out so I can set up an interview with Jim Kerr, even though I knew that even if I were able to score such an interview coup, there’d be no way in hell I would be able to translate it. Seriously, have you ever heard him speak? For as crystal-clear as he sings, his speaking voice is a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a drowning Scotsman.

Alas, my hopes were dashed when the album was bumped to January of the following year, and when January arrived…it was removed from the schedule altogether. Dude, not cool. To date, the album has yet to grace US shores, and that is nothing short of tragic. Witness today’s Ruby Tuesday selection “Stranger,” which combines the present-day ideas of a couple aging divas (Madonna’s song, Cher’s vocoder) and gives them an old-school Simple Minds once-over. Sha la la la, indeed.

Simple Minds – Stranger.mp3

Alternative, External Music, Rock, Ruby Tuesday, Songs

Ruby Tuesday: Bis, “I’m a Slut”

November 13, 2007 / David Medsker

When I first heard Bis, I was pretty sure I hated them. I mean, it was on a tribute album to the Smiths, fer crissakes. What on earth were they doing there?

I still don’t have a good answer to that question. Bis, after all, were the ‘90s equivalent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which means they were the ‘80s equivalent of Berlin and the Human League. Do any of those bands have a single thing in common with the Smiths? No, which is what made their version of “The Boy with a Thorn in His Side” both fascinating and maddening. On the plus side, they gave the song the danceable beat that it begged for all along. On the other hand, they also stripped Johnny Marr’s lovely chord progression out, effectively turning the song into a dub mix. Not what this Smiths fan was looking for.

Fast forward three years, and Bis releases their second album Social Dancing. Somehow, it catches my ear – I’m guessing they landed a track on a CMJ compilation, as I was a subscriber at the time – and I find a promo copy cheap…and in the process discover a song that still pops up on Medsker mix discs. Short, fast, funny and insanely catchy, “I’m a Slut” gleefully pokes fun at gender roles – “Have I done something to upset you / Was my dress a bit too see-through” – but had a Shirley Manson badass-ness to it as well. In a musical climate that was still suffering a hangover from what Alanis Morissette hath wrought, it was a most welcome breath of fresh air.

The band’s 2001 EP, Music from a Stranger World, was even better than Social Dancing, but it wasn’t good enough to stop them from breaking up two years later. Wikipedia says that they recently reunited for a few gigs in England. You have to think that they’re watching this whole ‘80s retro thing and thinking, “WTF?”

Bis – I’m a Slut.mp3

Alternative, External Music, Pop, Rock, Rock Babes, Ruby Tuesday, Songs

DMed’s Video of the Week: Patton Oswalt, “America Has Spoken”

November 9, 2007 / David Medsker

I’m new to the Patton Oswalt bandwagon, but I think I’m going to stay here for life. One spin of his latest, Lollipops and Werewolves, and I knew that I had found my new Bill Hicks. Funny, remorseless and corrosively foul, Oswalt is funny in ways that I haven’t heard someone be funny since, well, Hicks. This routine, which pokes fun at a certain fast food item, is much better on the CD, since you get a complete jingoistic song at the end, but this’ll do in a pinch. Buy the album. Now.

Artists, Seen Your Video, Videos