This sped-up reworking of Van Halen’s AOR staple “I’ll Wait” was dubbed “I’ll Wait (Devo Speed)” by a commenter ’round these parts, and it sounded so herky-jerky and good to these ears, I just had to pay tribute via Photoshop. (The Misfits-y hijacking of Danzig’s “Mother” linked from the message-board thread responsible for these shenanigans is worth your time, too.) [Boxstr via ILX; HT Jess/Paul] More »
Next Wednesday is 09.09.09—a big day for the music business thanks to the release of the remastered Beatles catalog on CD, as well as the Fab Four’s very own, very splashy installment in the Rock Band franchise. So why would Apple schedule a big event for that day, and why would said event be presaged by an invitation with an old-school iPod silhouette-dancer and a slightly mangled Rolling Stones lyric? Is it to throw everyone off the Beatles-on-iTunes scent, or something more sinister? Hmm. Hmmm! [Ars Technica] More »
Just in time for the arguing over their Top 500 Tracks Of The Decade list to die down, the folks at Pitchfork have put together another end-of-the-oughts ranking for people to nitpick—this time, a list of the 50 best music videos of the past 10 years. More »
Today Glenn Tilbrook, the co-leader of the iconic UK band Squeeze and man who was partially responsible for some of the greatest pop songs ever, turns 52. (FYI, I could have added another 10 links into that last sentence. Just go here and click.) Coincidentally, it’s also the 30th anniversary of the single release of “Slap And Tickle,” a warped little ode to awkward courtships that was always one of my favorite pieces of their catalog. Above, a clip of that song from the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test. [Official site; HT: New Wave Time Warp] More »
Yesterday, the harmonizing, indie-kid-beloved Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear played an outdoor show on its home borough’s waterfront, and at around 6 p.m. Twitter lit up with news from the show—not about the band’s performance, mind you, but about the appearance of Jay-Z and his lady Beyonce in the crowd, as documented by the above blurry cameraphone shot. Reactions included “!!!” and “OMG” and “Dammit!”, but honestly, why were people surprised? Five reasons why you all should have seen this coming after the jump. More »
A reader in the know let me know that, contrary to Hits‘ assertions, Vampire Weekend’s second album will not be coming out on Sept. 29—in fact, it’s not slated to come out until sometime in 2010. However, what is apparently coming out that day: the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack featuring Karen O and her pals and a bunch of kids. Tradeoff? [Pause & Play / Earlier] More »
Our look at the closing lines of the week’s biggest new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to I Look To You, superdiva Whitney Houston’s first studio album since 2002: More »
Radiohead opened their set at last night’s Reading Festival with their 1992 breakthrough hit “Creep,” which the band rarely trots out these days; Thom Yorke’s vocal delivery was fairly strangled, perhaps because he was acutely aware that he was leading a sing-along more than he was engaging in a performance. One wonders if Radiohead deliberately put that track at the beginning for the benefit of casual fans who wanted to hit the road early, since, according to The Independent: More »
Michael Bolton, the adult-contemporary crooner who pretty much set the groundwork for a lot of yarling post-grungers with his semi-strangled style of belting, is on the comeback trail! He has a new album, One World One Love, coming out next month, and in order to get in with the “kids,” he’s enlisted the help of popular songwriters of now like Ne-Yo and Lady GaGa. The GaGa collaboration, “Murder My Heart,” leaked over the weekend, and, well… it certainly sounds like it was made in 2009, with its punch-ins and digitized-to-next-week backing track. Clip after the jump. More »
Tonight’s set by the pugilistic Britpop titans Oasis at the Rock En Seine Festival, which was supposed to commence about an hour ago, was canceled at the last minute due to an “altercation,” the crowd was told. Well, that “altercation” was actually Noel Gallagher up and quitting the band because of his brotherly love pretty much going pffft! Good thing he had enough sense to blog about it immediately afterward: More »
