R.I.P.: Alex Chilton
Alex Chilton, the legendary singer-songwriter who fronted the Box Tops and Big Star, died yesterday in Memphis. He was 59.
Chilton was 16 when he wrote and recorded the Box Tops’ classic song “The Letter,” and continued to lead that band through later ’60s hits such as “Cry Like a Baby.” While that period in his work gave him the most renown, it was his pairing with Chris Bell in Big Star in the 1970s that produced his most influential work. Chilton and Big Star were the architects of modern power pop, and while their albums such as “#1 Record” and “Radio City” were not commercial successes by any means, Chilton and Bell’s influence was roughly analogous to the old statement about the Velvet Underground that is generally attributed to Brian Eno: few people heard Big Star, but most started bands that owed an immeasurable debt to them.
R.E.M.? Cheap Trick? Fountains of Wayne? Teenage Fanclub? They don’t exist without Big Star.
And of course, children by the millions wait for Alex Chilton. I’m in love — what’s that song? I’m in love — with that song.
Video of the Day: Hot Chip, “I Feel Better”
Hot Chip - I Feel Better
Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos
A thoroughly hilarious and disturbing clip in which an overly waxed British boy band gets attacked by fire-breathing mutants and disembodied heads. An early candidate for video of the year.
Video of the Day and Review: Gorillaz, “Stylo”
Gorillaz “Plastic Beach” (Virgin)
Rating: 93
As Damon Albarn predicted with Gorillaz’ 2001 debut and 2005 follow-up, “Demon Days,” the sun-blasted apocalyptic wasteland is going to sound amazing. Long proven as one of pop’s great polyglots, the former Blur man sews styles together without making them sound like patchworks. “Plastic Beach” continues in the superlative Gorillaz tradition of near-future pop for a shocking tomorrow; it’s great combat-driving music for the Mad Max generation.
While it’s furiously recombining and recontextualizing our present and the recent past for future dance parties, “Plastic Beach” is still, at its heart, a collection of great songs. “Rhinestone Eyes” stands as one of Gorillaz’ best wasteland-pop tracks, as Albarn sings longingly of a woman (or machine) whose “rhinestone eyes are like factories far away.” “Stylo” delivers even more immediate pleasure as Albarn, Mos Def and the great Bobby Womack trade lines over an electro-pulse update of early ’70s Marvin Gaye.
Other guest spots include a superbly laconic turn by Lou Reed on “Some Kind of Nature,” The Fall’s Mark E. Smith on “Glitter Freeze,” and Gruff Rhys and De La Soul on the goofy cereal jingle “Superfast Jellyfish” — the ante is clearly upped on “Plastic Beach.” But Albarn reserves some of the best moments for himself: If any John Hughes scripts are released from the vault, “On Melancholy Hill” would be great for the climactic kiss scene. If the future will be run-down or “Broken,” as the title of Albarn’s great mournful ballad from “Plastic Beach” suggests, Gorillaz can make the best of what’s still around.
Video of the Day: The Lonely Island featuring Julian Casablancas, “Boombox”
“A boombox is not a toy!”
Video of the Day: Yeasayer, “O.N.E.”
What can get you thrown out of a warehouse party in Williamsburg? Being an alien with a creepy, shape-shifting bubble head is a start.
Coco Hits the Road, Sets His GPS for Tulsa
Following his contentious battle with NBC and departure after a seven-month stay as host of “The Tonight Show,” Conan O’Brien hits the road this spring with a 30-city tour, including a stop at Tulsa’s Brady Theater.
In a surprise announcement, tickets went on sale at 9 a.m. Thursday for O’Brien’s “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour,” which arrives in Tulsa at 8 p.m. May 15 at the Brady Theater. The show features O’Brien along with sidekick Andy Richter and the former Tonight Show Band.
The title of O’Brien’s tour comes from a stipulation in O’Brien’s departure from NBC, which prohibits him from starting a new show on a competing network before September, 2010. O’Brien reportedly is in talks with other networks, and emerged last month as a new star on Twitter, quickly gathering over 600,000 followers. In a statement, O’Brien jokingly offered a key reason for taking his show on the road.
“It was either a massive 30-city tour or start helping out around the house,” O’Brien said.
Tickets for regular admission are $35 to $75 with special packages available, including a meet-and-greet for $587. Tickets are available at area Buy For Less stores, at www.protixonline.com and by phone at (866) 977-6849.
Video of the Day: Real Estate, “Suburban Dogs”
We have a beautiful spiral ham here.
Video of the Day: She & Him, “In the Sun”
Zooey Deschanel is back to destroy your productivity today. Yes, she just winked at you.
Jimmy Kimmel’s Handsome Men’s Club
Lorne Michaels should look well upon this and realize that nothing he has put on “Saturday Night Live” in the past decade is quite this great.
Mark Linkous, Sparklehorse (1962-2010)
The New York Times reported today that Mark Linkous, a master of quietly beautiful modern psychedelic folk who recorded under the name Sparklehorse, committed suicide over the weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. He was 47.
The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd eulogized Linkous via Twitter.
“R.I.P. Mark Linkous. You were a kind soul… Mark Linkous toured with us in 2003. Every night he and I would share a quiet moment with a shot of whiskey and a few laughs. A nice memory.”
As Heather Phares of Allmusic.com noted, Sparklehorse’s style fit perfectly between Mercury Rev and late-model Flaming Lips — that made sense, what with Dave Fridmann producing Linkous’ “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of the Mountain.”
Here is a personal favorite, a beautiful song called “Gold Day.” I hope you like it.
