There should be a warning label with this video, something along the lines of the “Happy Fun Ball” skit on “Saturday Night Live.”
– Those who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not watch “Alice”
– Those who suffer from vertigo should not watch “Alice”
– Do not consume excessive amounts of alcohol before watching “Alice”
– Do not taunt “Alice”
Simply put, this is not an easy video to digest. On the plus side, Mr. Melville seems to have gotten back in touch with his former self to create a dizzying hip-hop track that is equal parts Play and Everything is Wrong. Here’s hoping that the rest of the record lives up to that potential.
If you’re Paul McCartney, you’ve had a lot of albums and singles released under your name. Many of these have been worldwide hits, no doubt. But you’ve also found the time to put things out that weren’t released as singles or just became little bits of treasure to certain circles of fans. If you’re Paul McCartney, you can continue to do these types of things, as you have tons of money and at this point in your career it doesn’t matter at all if you get back on the charts. Your fans are there and they will embrace something of yours out there somewhere. Luckily, though, you happen to have some tasty non-chart topping album cuts that are worth discussing. If you’re Paul McCartney, we’re going to be discussing those bits right now. If you’re not, just read, learn, and enjoy it all just as well. As Clint Harrigan (whoever the hell that was) said in the liner notes on the back of the first Wings album, “Can you dig it?”
I’ve been going through this really weird musical phase lately, where I’m positively lapping up awesomely cheesy AOR from the ’70s and ’80s. After posing a question to the Audities list – the home of insanely great pop – about some of the best bands in the genre and being pitched recommendations for bands like Shooting Star, Tycoon, and others, it was brought to my attention that the New Pornographers did a cover of a song called “Your Daddy Don’t Know,” by the Canadian AOR band known as Toronto. (Geez, would you have guessed they were Canadian if I hadn’t told you?) I don’t know if the rest of Toronto’s oeuvre is as good as this song, but as long as it’s as least as good as the outfits the Pornographers are sporting here, I sense a best-of purchase is in my future…
Oh, and before you ask, no, I don’t know where you can actually purchase this cover, but I can tell you that it’s on the soundtrack to a Canadian movie called “FUBAR.” The soundtrack itself isn’t on Amazon, but given that it also features Sloan doing Rush’s “In the Mood,” Treble Charger doing April Wine’s “Roller,” and Chixdiggit taking on “The Kid Is Hot Tonight,” I’m half-tempted to click on the below photo and order a copy of the DVD. I mean, if that’s the only way I can hear the tunes, then so be it, y’know…?
So, just poking around for new angles on MySpace Music led to a Digg article on Band Jammer spyware developed by devious hackers who, apparently, feel that there’s money to be made by busting into bad Dutch metal bands’ MySpaces.
The Digg piece linked to this great FaceTime Security Labs breakdown of how Band Jammer preyed on MySpace Music pages, and who was the first victim they used in their example? Heh, heh. Why, none other than your Man-About-MySpace group of the week: A New Dawn, the Netherlands’ finest crap-metal band, which has apparently been unjammed, because there’s no evidence of spyware there anymore, at least as I write this tonight. Clearly the class of Europe, A New Dawn is loaded with babes on stage, including this beauty worthy of Bullz-Eye:
The music–a very 1990s beyond-Metallica hardcore sound, with very serious, solemn female vocals floating atop the familiar barking, growling thrash-guitar dude–probably isn’t many people’s cup of tea. But someone likes them, as A New Dawn’s racked up nearly 20,000 friends, and–like Motley Crue’s never seen a state-fair shed it wouldn’t play–appears to hit every single metalfest The Continent has to offer. But don’t take our word for it, check out this riveting performance of their composition “Veil of Charity” and judge for yourself :
That boiiiing sound you just heard was BE Associate Editor Will Harris. He introduced me to this song, you see, and in the process introduced me to one of my favorite albums of all time, so he is surely enjoying this post.
Truth be told, I’m generally not a pastoral pop kind of guy. Yes, there are Kinks and XTC records that I will defend to the death, and I even have a healthy amount of Belle & Sebastian in my CD collection – something I am loath to admit after being shamed by my former coworker Katie a few years ago – but if you’re going to be precious, you damn well better make it catchy, and hooks are the one thing on which the Lilac Time does not skimp. For me, the key is the backing harmony of Claire Worrell; without her, lead singer Stephen Duffy’s clever lyrics and the pedal steel guitar land on deaf ears.
Interesting fact: Duffy agreed to co-write songs with Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page after Page sent him a demo tape. Whether Duffy has made more money from his association with Page than he has on his own, however, is unknown.
