Another day, another End Of The Decade List, this time from Spinner.com. The music site’s editors are saying “fie!” in the face of other lists’ almost exclusively male picks for the top spot and are honoring Amy Winehouse’s soulful Back To Black as the Top Album of the Decade. At last, a chance to reflect on her essential talent, instead of her seemingly endless nosedive. Check out the full list but keep it quick—wouldn’t want you to miss the Slick Rick gig. More »
Yesterday, Paste released its list of the 50 Best Albums Of The 2000s, and the list was topped by none other than Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise, which honestly seems like it was released way longer ago, so established has he become in the indie-rock firmament. Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Radiohead’s Kid A, and Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning rounded out the top five. Full rundown after the jump, but first, a few reactions.
THE GOOD: Hey, look, Stankonia! At No. 8! Three places beneath… Bright Eyes. Sigh.
THE BAD: Instead of noting the male-white–breadiness of the list—because that is, after all, the way of Paste, and you can’t expect them to change their stripes just for the sake of a mid-autumn pageview-generation ploy—I’m going to zero in on one totally questionable choice. Namely, the selection of M.I.A. albums on the list. Arular (No. 10) and not Kala? Really? I mean, Arular is fine, but Kala is kinda next-level. Is it because of the (admittedly unfortunate) Timbaland track?
THE WHAAAA? Dear Paste fact-checkers: Not for nothing, but Radiohead’s In Rainbows was not entirely “self-released,” as you claim. I know that would screw up the “it changed everything with its revolutionary pricing methods” that serves as the angle for your gushing write-up of the record. Pity that you muffed the opportunity to write about something so (yawn) groundbreaking by regurgitating a tired, half-true spiel. More »
Last night I had a dream that I was trapped in a hotel that was subsidizing its rates with advertising in the lobby. Among the commercials was an extended spot for the Insane Clown Posse in which they a) announced that they were recruiting for their own personal police force and b) covered, quite faithfully and with great gusto, the Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out).” This dream—which, I should add, was not the result of a Faygo-and-Molson pre-bedtime cocktail—made me wonder if any of you out there have had similar moments in which cover versions that are odd even for this genre-crossing moment in pop music have sprung from your subconscious. To get your mind rolling, I’ve placed a very special cover after the jump! More »
Win Butler from the Arcade Fire, called out for pomposity by supposed good guy Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, fired back late yesterday what’s shaping up to be the Musical Beef Of March 2009. (It’s at least on par with some of the great beefs of the past, like Canibus vs. LL Cool J, Canibus vs. Eminem, and Canibus vs. relevance!) Butler says he only met Coyne once briefly and found him “a hard guy to get a read on.” He doesn’t recall any jerkiness, but he does say the band was jetlagged from a trip to Brazil. He also says that “Steven Drodz” [sic] was nice and is a big fan (as well he should be) of Clouds Taste Metallic.
So, Wayne Coyne doesn’t really care for the Arcade Fire, dropping some really spectacular quotes— including the bon mot “They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so fuck ’em”—into an interview with Andy Greene of Rolling Stone.
Pairing “My Body Is A Cage” with clips from The… More »
Congratulations, world! You somehow made it all the way to Oct. 1, 2008, which means one thing: It’s time for Rocktober to start. How will you celebrate? Some people are linking to YouTubes of Who songs. Others are hoping that you’ll have a hankering to hear the Divinyls and Foreigner within the same span of time. One guy who got the coveted domain name “rocktober.com” is even saying that we should bring back Metallica Monday, although I know of a few people who might disagree with that idea. Which is why I have five Rocktober-celebration suggestions of my own, all of which are located after the jump.
The social conscience and strident voice of Bono has influenced many a singer over the last few decades. The U2 frontman successfully melded the earnest social conscience of Bruce Springsteen with the self-glorifying pomp of European arena acts, realizing that both the Common Man and King Dick were below Jesus on the food chain. Sure there was precedent, but Sting is handicapped by his ego (and jazz bass), while Ian McCullough wanted to be a romantic poet/sex object more than the messiah. Here are ten singers who, at their best (or worst), have aspired to the Almighty’s throne.
Did you ever see that ’80s Twilight Zone episode where a financially strapped couple is given a box and told if they press the button on it, they’ll receive a lot of money but someone far, far away will die? Thirty minutes later, did you think “wow, I’d like to see this expanded into a movie by the guy who directed Southland Tales, with a soundtrack by the Arcade Fire?” Neither did Win Butler, who sounds a little annoyed about the recent press his band’s received about allegedly working with Richard Kelly, the unwelcome bastard child of David Lynch and George Lucas, on the score for The Box.
