The Washington state festival kicks off in May. More »
Buy a slogan-printed T-shirt, get the song whose lyric it’s emblazoned with as a free download with it? Eh, you know, why not: Universal Music Group and the Wal-Mart-owned UK supermarket chain Asda are teaming up on such a promotion, with four shirts featuring lyrics from Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild,” Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town,” the Cure’s “Lovecats,” and, uh, a Hard-Fi song. (NB: The shirt at left is not in the promotion, it’s just something I found while searching on “lovecats shirt.” There were a lot of shirts with similar sentiments!) Given peoples’ willingness to buy shirts that say anything on them, I can see this actually working in an “opening up songs to new audiences” way, provided that the featured lyrics are stoopid enough. [Music Radar] More »
I’m sure there’s quite an active low-rider musical genre out there, but despite living in a town with an active and significant Hispanic community, you wouldn’t really know if from the urban radio station in Tucson. That’s probably how I’ve missed out on the Far East Movement (who aren’t Hispanic, but make music seemingly oriented towards that market) until today. Other than promoting the occasional Amanda Perez club appearance, the playlist on Hot 98.3 seems about the same as any Clear Channel-operated station playing rap and R&B hits. It makes me a little sad, especially when a group makes a tribute to riding in old cars low to the ground that uses an Autotuned snippet of the Cure’s “Love Song” as a chorus. What’s not to like? More »
After making some disparaging comments about a misunderstood perception of “The Radiohead Model” (which Maura helpfully defined correctly) and kicking up a consequent shitstorm, Cure lead singer Robert Smith has, refreshingly, expanded on his ideas rather than backing away from them—though, regrettably, in all caps. I will retype it for you so it seems more credible.
Poor Thom Yorke. He just wants to make his music and post cryptic blog updates, and everyone has to be getting in his face, whether it’s about his band’s digital-distribution experiments or their Grammy antics. Why can’t people just leave him alone? Ha ha, because it gets them press, of course.
Spotted while looking for updates on the NME… More »
Paul McCartney, The Killers, and The Cure are atop the seemingly eternally delayed lineup (OK it was only like a week tops, but still) for the California festival Coachella, which takes place April 17-19. Also on the bill: Morrissey, Leonard Cohen, My Bloody Valentine, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, X, TV On The Radio, and Ida Maria. And Amy Winehouse, for real! Full roster, broken down by day, after the jump.
Technically, the era of the b-side is probably long over. Even in digital form, a castoff track is more likely to appear as an iTunes bonus track or as extra material on the Japanese release these days than actually attached to a single. Still, even as the file-sharing age has diminished the joy of feeling like you’ve heard a song that few other Americans have thanks to plunking down ten dollars for a import single, there’s still something special about the non-album track. While the likelihood of finding a “How Soon Is Now?” on the back of a “William, It Was Truly Nothing” is low, there were a few songs this year I thought were worth a mention (and a few listens).
The Guardian today reports on the possible end of the double album, as highlighted by Robert Smith’s unwillingness to take a paycut to release a second disc along with this month’s 4:13 Dream. The question that came to mind: Should anyone care?
