The video for “Further Complications,” the title track from the second solo album by Jarvis Cocker, is a hybrid of Madonna’s boxed-in clip for “Human Nature” and Mad‘s long-beloved Fold-In, with the dapper singer dancing like a spaz and being manipulated into . (NB: He is wearing a blazer, not the bondage gear Madge wore in that 1994 video—I guess that sort of getup would be more appropriate for a Relaxed Muscle clip.) After the jump, Jarvis in all his pixelated glory! More »
Yesterday’s cheeky Jarvis Cocker soundbite about the possibility of Pulp reforming for next year’s Glastonbury Festival sounded pretty much like a “we’re not playing” blow-off to these ears, but apparently other people didn’t pick up the nuance, running with “OMG PULP REUNION” stories as fast as their content-management systems would let them. So Jarvis has released a statement denying and decrying those rumors, and this time, he’s playing it 100% straightforward: More »
File this under quotes that I wish had more detail about their inflection: Jarvis Cocker gave the following soundbite to the UK celebrity rag People: “Glastonbury means an awful lot to me, I would love to play there again. We’ve talked about it, there we go, there’ll be a band reunion.” Now, uh, not to rain on parades here, but I have many questions about this quote! For starters, who is the “we” that had this conversation? Is Jarvis referring to the members of the band, or himself and the reporter? And as a follow-up, is that “there we go, there’ll be a band reunion” a revelation that the Glastonbury organizers have already done their cash-waving in the general direction of the split-up Britpop superstars, or a cheeky acknowledgement of how the UK’s gossip-page sausage gets made? I know what side my suspicions reside on… and hey, the NME‘s lede reworks Jarvis’ quote into “Jarvis Cocker has said that Pulp are ‘coming back,’ ” even though those two words appear nowhere in the 26 words quoted by People. Oh well, at least now I have an excuse to post a video, right? Let’s all meet up in the year 2000 (and ten), after the jump! More »
Some things to read while lamenting the fact that you didn’t get tickets to Al Fest…
• The Red Hot Chilli Pipers. I guess the extra “l” is for extra lawsuit protection—pity they couldn’t take a similar tack with peoples’ ears. [Official site; HT (?) Ned Raggett]
• Jay-Z’s hatred of Autotune has been great for business, says Antares Audio Technologies VP of marketing Marco Alpert. “We make no value judgments on how people use our product… it’s a tool to be used by the people who buy it, and we’re happy when consumers find new uses for it.” That includes blowing it up in music videos, FYI. [Bits] More »
Pitchfork has posted the entirety of Jarvis Cocker’s set from last year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, and if you have an hour or so to carve out from today I suggest you spend it watching this; it includes early versions of tracks that made their way to Further Complications and his ferocious cover of Master C & J’s Chicago house classic “Face It.” Above, my favorite part of the show: Jarvis showing off his knowledge of the festival’s home city of Chicago by reminding the crowd of just who Wikipedia thinks the city’s most famous natives are. (There’s even a throwaway Karate Kid Part II reference!) [Pitchfork] More »
Our look at the closing lines of the week’s biggest new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to Further Complications, the second solo album by Jarvis Cocker: More »
In preparation for some upcoming live dates, Jarvis Cocker and his band are going into rehearsal; as a way of experimenting with the music business’ adaptation to, as he says, “the post-capitalist society we now find ourselves living in” the ever-charming Cocker has decided to throw open the doors to a week of his band’s rehearsals, starting next Tuesday. Unfortunately for me those “doors” lead to a gallery in Paris, but perhaps you have the time/funds to head out there. (Those of us who are chained to our desks can follow along online.) There will be yoga, and guest performances, and a sampling of what a Jarvis Cocker day care facility would look like, as well as multiple chances for any old schlub to bring an instrument and jam. (I would advise lining up now, because I am sure that people started heading over there immediately after this press release was issued.) Stifle your jealousy along with me as you peruse the full schedule of events after the jump. More »
What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.
