Video of the Day: MGMT, “Flash Delirium”
I always hate it when a decorated military officer pulls an electric eel out of an articulating tracheotomy.
Video of the Day: The Bird and the Bee, “She’s Gone”
A very pregnant (due next month) Inara George performs “She’s Gone” at the El Rey in Los Angeles three weeks ago, with John Oates guesting. This is one of the many excellent covers included on the B&B’s new disc, “Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates.”
I’m not kidding. Great album. No irony. No B.S.
Video of the Day: YACHT, “The Afterlife”
I think you’re only supposed to do this once, but Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans get right with God in just about every body of water available.
Video of the Day: Jamie Lidell, “The Ring”
We have to wait nearly two months for Compass. Way too long. Way. Too. Long.
Video of the Day: We Have Band, “Divisive”
This sounds like the first thing you might hear if you emerged from a “Hot Tub Time Machine” and found yourself trapped in the mid-’80s — in a good way.
“Hot Tub Time Machine” Cast Talks Eighties Flashbacks
I’m seeing “Hot Tub Time Machine” tonight, and I’m inappropriately excited about it — it was written by the same team that did “Sex Drive,” an underrated and under-seen raunch comedy that made it impossible for me to hear the word “Rumspringa” these days without giggling stupidly, so I have high hopes for this one. Read this great interview with John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke in the New York Times, talking about their 1980s memories — in Duke’s case, they’re a little dim, since he was toilet training at the time.
Sample:
Craig Robinson: “I was definitely into the John Hughes movies. I was a big “Breakfast Club” guy. Molly Ringwald was, like, bam! You know? What’s up?”
Yes. Exactly.
Stream MGMT’s “Congratulations”
It doesn’t come out until April 13, but since “Congratulations” leaked online not long ago, MGMT decided to stream it for your convenience, hoping to keep fans happy until the actual release. My initial reaction is that MGMT made a significant leap — hear for yourself.
Paul Westerberg Eulogizes Alex Chilton in the New York Times
This is a nicely written piece that tells, with typical humor from both men, what a unique and eccentric artist Chilton was, how cool his student is, and the stunning beauty of the Big Star song “Nighttime.” By the way, Mr. Westerberg, we need something new — the last few days have been a not-so-gentle reminder.
Video of the Day: Devendra Banhart, “Baby”
So, you’ve got your Zappa facial hair looking super-styley and you’re hanging out in Brooklyn with your buddies from MGMT and the Strokes when a space cylinder drops out of the sky and sucks you into its chamber. But you’re still grooving on the vibe of the day, and even when that space cylinder deposits you into a colonoscopic netherworld in which GZA rules over creatures deemed too freaky for “Yellow Submarine,” the time is right for a dance party.
Video of the Day and Review: Rogue Wave, “Good Morning (The Future)”
A couple enjoys love among the ruins in this first video from “Permalight.” The video looks like it was shot at the Salton Sea in California — if you ever need a location for your speculative fiction apocalypse movie, go there.
Rogue Wave, “Permalight” (Brushfire)
Rating: 74
Rogue Wave’s “Permalight” corrects the course Zack Rogue set with the band’s third album, 2007′s “Asleep at Heaven’s Gate,” a collection of self-serious stadium rock that threatened to consign this promising band to the crowded ranks of Coldplay-mates. Rogue chose to fight a series of setbacks with beautifully bright melodies and arrangements that add an electro sheen to the modern campfire mood that Rogue Wave established with “Out of the Shadow” in 2004.
The positive, shimmering mood is set with the New Order-style rhythms of “Good Morning” and the electro-acoustic reverie of the title song, which builds to an exhilarating dance-rock finish. But Rogue has not been fully seduced by pulsing beats. Not much separates “Fear Itself” from the gentle folk of early songs such as “Be Kind — Remind,” and “We Will Make a Song Destroy” proves there is still power behind Rogue Wave’s power-pop.
But “Permalight” does not make for an easy front-to-back listening experience; it plays like the many moods of its creator, jumping from one musical fascination to the next with little continuity. In some respects, this is admirable, because Rogue Wave is constantly surprising on “Permalight”: Its penultimate track, “You Have Boarded,” is a positively buoyant piece of modified Merseybeat, completely unexpected. Rogue Wave might just be deciding what kind of band it wants to be next time, and with “Permalight,” it has laid out multiple options.
