Video of the Day: Shugo Tokumaru, “Parachute”
Irresistable twee from Japan, the country that arguably invented twee (可愛さkawaisa)
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Wayne and the Lips Stay Happy At Warners
Few musicians are in love with their labels these days, but Wayne Coyne is sounding contented with Warner Bros. The Lips will fulfill their WB contract with their next disc, but Wayne is not looking to jump ship — he sounds like he’s tied himself to the mast.
Via Idolator:
“I think we’d only leave because there’s not a reason to stay… I feel like Warner Bros. really has believed in us … Everything is changing for everyone. If they restructure the way they deal with bands in the next couple years, I’m sure they’ll be thinking of ways that will work for us and them. But our deal with Warner Bros. isn’t something we’re waiting to get out of. We’re not waiting to show them who’s boss.”
Random 10 for October 29, 2008
1. Chris Cornell, “Ground Zero.” You know how it is: you download out of unquenchable curiosity, then the horror begins – the garbage just keeps jumping out at you like it’s being propelled out of a trash cannon. This is from Cornell’s upcoming disc with Timbaland, which is turning out to be the “Cop Rock” of musical amalgams — prepare to recoil. Speaking of “Cop Rock,” this clip prominently features material from the thoroughly enjoyable “Life on Mars,” also known as my new “Journeyman.”
2. Wilco, “Ashes of American Flags.”
3. Eisley, “Ten Cent Blues.”
4. Voxtrot, “Kid Gloves.”
5. Neon Neon, “I Lust You.” This electro-pop sideline from Gruff Rhys is so excellent, I might be forgiving if he waits awhile for the next Super Furries disc.
6. Portishead, “We Carry On.”
7. Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Pictures of Jesus.”
8. The Autumn Defense, “Estate Remains.”
9. Dennis Wilson, “Time For Bed.”
10. Fun Boy Three, “Our Lips Are Sealed.” As unabashed New Wave geekoids know, Jane Wiedlin (Staticblog Rock Crush 1982) and former Specials leader Terry Hall were all kissy back then, and the long-standing result of that romance was “Our Lips Are Sealed.” The Go-Go’s hit it huge with the song, and then Hall recorded it with Fun Boy Three two years later, with production by David Byrne.
Video of the Day: Red Fang, “Prehistoric Dog”
“Hey Gandalf — nice dress!”
It’s All My Fault
No matter what your inclination might be, vote one week from today.
MTV Music Launches
The name of MTV’s new music video portal is a little David St. Hubbins redundant — MTV Music is literally “Music Television Music,” grammar kids, but by its looks and functionality, it is Hulu for music video. My good friend Preston at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sent me an e-mail saying “Goodbye productivity, I hardly knew ye,” and he’s right — what little I enjoyed of real quantifiable work is probably going the way of the McDLT.
Now, as much as I applaud MTV finally making its vast library of music videos available without having to wade through its morass of reality television stinkatude, I just don’t understand why it took them until 2000-freaking-8 to do it. Most of this stuff is available on YouTube and easily usable unless some calcified, regressive label executive calls for the disabling of embed functions (I’m looking at you, RCA, for disabling the Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire”), and between Pitchfork.tv’s enviable coolness and the wide-ranging Yahoo music portal, it’s a big tent these days for online music videos.
But, there is something refreshing about MTV doing something right these days, even if it’s about three years too late. And here’s hoping they are diligent about loading songs from the archives — they’re on the right track so far, but we need more of the classics from “120 Minutes” and such, and while most of those clips are on YouTube now, they come complete with VHS static.
Yeah, like Wayne says in the above video: “Turn it on.”
Video of the Day: Matt & Kim, “Daylight”
Are you bummed? The ecstatic happiness of this duo and their modified New Jack Swing beat will either break you out of your depression or send you down a seething path of destruction.
Random 10 for October 28, 2008
1. New Young Pony Club, “Ice Cream.” Once you get over the initial embarrassment, New Young Pony Club plays like the happy counter-argument to Ladytron.
2. Bauhaus, “Endless Summer of the Damned.”
3. The Shaky Hands, “Why and How Come?”
4. Lindsey Buckingham, “Love Runs Deeper.”
5. Kings of Leon, “Sex On Fire.” Our semi-Oklahomans seem to have found the perfect middle ground between their raw, Strokes-at-Muscle-Shoals sound and the expansive arena bluster of their last disc. Bravo, then.
6. Brazilian Girls, “Never Met a German.”
7. Ween, “Mister Won’t You Please Help My Pony?”
8. Supergrass, “Whisky and Green Tea.”
9. Electric Six, “Gay Bar.”
10. Boomtown Rats, “Mary of the 4th Form.” To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, “So you want to be my messianic world hunger eradicator…”
