Music Category
Music news and reviews, music videos and tittle tattle, with a lingering look at the past from Anorak. A source for rock, pop, album and live music, new releases, artist interviews and features.
Things found inside vinyl record sleeves
Over on Flashbak, the story of one man’s collection of things found inside record sleeves. Ever hide anything inside yours?
See them all here.
Gutterdämmerung: Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Grace Jones and Nina Hagen cannot fail
Gutterdämmerung looks fantastic. Here’s the pitch:
The film is set in a world where God has saved the world from sin by taking from mankind the Devil’s ‘Grail of Sin’…..the Evil Guitar. The Earth has now turned into a puritan world where there is no room for sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll.
From up on high in heaven a “punk-angel”, Vicious (portrayed by Iggy Pop), looks upon the world with weary bored eyes. Behind God’s back, Vicious sends the Devil’s guitar back to earth and sin in all its forms returns to mankind.
An evil puritan priest (Henry Rollins) manipulates a naive girl to retrieve the guitar and destroy it. On her quest to find the Devil’s Grail Of Sin, the girl is forced to face the world’s most evil rock and roll bastards. Throughout her journey, she has a rival in the form of a rock chick determined to stop her from destroying the instrument.
Sounds fantastic.
More about Bjorn Tagemos’ Gutterdämmerung here.
Posted: 15th, October 2015 | In: Film, Key Posts, Music, Reviews | Comment
Motorhead: you can buy one of these Lemy virbators
You can buy a Motörhead vibrator via the Lovehoney onanist boutique:
World-renowned heavy metal legends Motörhead have turned their attention to your intimate pleasure with their own range of branded sex toys. Powerful classic vibrators and bullets are amongst the line up, each packing a powerful punch that captures the rock and roll lifestyle of the band perfectly. Prepare for the sort of mind-blowing orgasms you’d expect from the ‘loudest band on Earth’.
Cliff Richard will supply the wine…
Posted: 9th, September 2015 | In: Music, The Consumer | Comment
The life and death of Tower Records – a documentary
Who didn’t go to Tower Records?
Established in 1960, Tower Records was once a retail powerhouse with two hundred stores, in thirty countries, on five continents. From humble beginnings in a small-town drugstore, Tower Records eventually became the heart and soul of the music world, and a powerful force in the music industry. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong? Everyone thinks they know what killed Tower Records: The Internet. But thats not the story. All Things Must Pass is a feature documentary film examining this iconic companys explosive trajectory, tragic demise, and legacy forged by its rebellious founder, Russ Solomon.FacebookTwitterOfficial WebsiteDirector Colin Hanks Writers Steven Leckart Actors Russ Solomon, Michael Solomon, Heidi Cotler, Mark Viducich, Stan Goman, Bob Delanoy, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, David Geffen, Dave Grohl Genre Documentary Run Time 1 hour 40 minutes Copyright to Production company
What an English pop song sounds like to Italians
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What do the English sounds like to Italians?
In 1972, Italian singer Adriano Celentano belted out the No. 1 hit Prisencolinensinainciusol. You can sing along if you know the words but if you do you run the risk of sounds like a fool shouting at pigeons in the precinct. Adriano made them up as he went along. They sounded Englishy. He tells All Things Considered:
“Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did. I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn’t mean anything.”
And now…One Direction.
Spotter: NPR, via Mental Floss and NowIKnow
Watch the making of Moray McLaren’s gorgeous video for We Got Time
The video to Moray McLaren’s We Got Time features lovely animations. What you see is not reliant on modern cameras and computers. What you see is what was filmed.
Londoner David Wilson tells us how it was done:
All the animations seen in the music video were created in camera. No stopframe techniques, or computer super-imposing was used; what you see is what rolled off the camera. The animations in the side-on views were produced by the camera capturing the moving reflections from the mirrored carousels, and the animations in the top-down views were created by matching the cameras frame rate to that of spinning record. The transitions between each section of animation was created by simply cutting or wiping between the bits of footage.
And shows us:
Posted: 25th, August 2015 | In: Music, Reviews, Technology | Comment
Watch: Jewish American singer Matisyahu takes down the BDS bigots
Jewish American singer Matisyahu did appear at Spain’s Rototom SunSplash music festival on Saturday. He sang his hit Jerusalem. Pro-Palestinian groups had called for him to be boycotted.
Monoculists with the local Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement accused the 36-year-old of being a “Zionist” (filthy, filthy word) who supports the practice of “apartheid and ethnic cleansing”.
What craven and cowardly balls.
The show’s organisors t first conceded to the bigots. Then they saw the light.
Watch the Foo Fighters Rick Roll Westboro Baptist Church
Posted: 23rd, August 2015 | In: Celebrities, Music, Reviews | Comment
Listen to Okilly Dokilly: the Ned Flanders trubite band have a song out
To Phoenix, Arizona, where Okilly Dokilly – the world’s first and only Ned Flanders tribute band – are talking to James McCann. They play ‘Nedal’ music. It being what The Simpson’s character would have wanted.
As their Facebook bio notes: “most of our songs are direct Ned quotes.”
Lead Singer Head Ned On How They Got Started
“Myself and our drummer (Bled Ned) were in line at a grocery store, entertaining ourselves by coming up with really cutesy names for really hardcore, brutal bands. The name Okilly Dokilly came up and was very funny to us. We ran with it. I contacted a few friends (Red Ned, Thread Ned and Stead Ned), and here we are. Most of us have played in other bands around our hometown. This is definitely the heaviest sounding project any of us Neds have done.”
The Sound
“Not as fast as Bartcore, and a little cleaner than Krusty Punk. Not as heavy as ‘Homer J.ent’ – Nedal is a happy medium in the Simpscene.”
Are You All Left Handed?
“I am,”says Head Ned. “The other Neds aren’t so lucky. It made writing All That Is Left pretty fun,” he continues. “It’s our homage to the Leftorium, and the bridge is entirely left handed puns.”
The Dream
In reality, this is all just an over-the-top attempt at getting Matt Groening’s autograph, even if it comes on a cease and desist letter.
And now for the demo tape:
Posted: 14th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, Music, Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment
Watch: Ice Cube responds to Rap Genius interpretations of the great ‘Straight Outta Compton’
Ice Cube hails his new film STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON by responding to reacting to the Rap Genius interpretations.
Posted: 11th, August 2015 | In: Celebrities, Film, Music | Comment
Playable tortilla records for your turntables
Someone at Rapture Records saw the video of someone “playing” a tortilla and created tortillas records.
The tortillas are, of courses, raw. The grooves are laser cut.
Make your own here.
Posted: 8th, July 2015 | In: Music, Reviews, The Consumer | Comment
Zion blood is flowing: Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision Of Paradise And Top 10 Songs
Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision Of Paradise is the story of the great music man’s life. German filmmaker Volker Schaner tells Mojo about his film of the great Upsetter:
“There is something so mysterious and sparkling in Lee Perry’s music. I always wanted to understand this man and his cosmos, and to make a film with and about him.”
Perry’s music is a mix of the mystical, spectral and the touchable.
These are our top 10 Lee Scratch Perry songs:
Roast Fish And Cornbread:
Junior Murvin Police & Thieves
Disco Devil
Roast Duck
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 7th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, Music, Reviews | Comment
Other Parents: brilliant daughter v father beatboxing
You can inherit mannerisms, skills and gestures. And your progeny can build on them and be better than you. In this video St. Louis-based beatboxer Nicole Paris and her dad battle. He’s good. She epic. There is only one winner:
Spotter: Leonard Beaty
Homemade Dutch sex toys (the video)
The video to Dutch band De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig’s tune Elektrotechnique features DIY sex toys. If they remind you of happier times, do tell us how they work and if nails or glue is better:
Spoter: DM
The animated Joni Mitchell talks about being a reluctant star
Blank on Blank’s animated video features Joni Mitchell in conversation with record executive Joe Smith back in 1986 .
More in Smith’s book Off the Record.
Spotter: Open Culture, via Flashbak
Mike Young’s YouTube Channel is the greatest kamikaze karaoke this side of Tokyo
Richard Metzger points us toward the work of Mike Young, whose YouTube channel is a beautiful horror of kamikaze karaoke. A few highlights apepar below:
Enjoy the silence:
Spotter: DM
Watch The Premiere Of John Carpenter’s Night Video
‘Music to shiver by’ might be the name of John Carpenter’s album of Lost Themes. The man who thrilled us with his Halloween and these overlooked gems inspired directors Gavin Hignight and Ben Verhulst to put pictures to Carpenter’s tune Night.
Hignight pays tribute to the master of sinister synth:
“Upon hearing NIGHT by John Carpenter my head was instantly filled with these nighttime highway road dreamscapes. Someone or something, haunted, traveling the road alone in the late hours.
“Our goal was to take that feeling and put it into a video that paid tribute to the film work of Carpenter but at the same time gave him a new world to play in… in this case literally through Virtual Reality.”
More here.
Spotter: io9
Rolling Stone: A Rape on Campus is ok but a bad Hootie And The Blowfish review will get you fired
What gets you fired from Rolling Stone magazine? A story that wrongly branded a frat house violent gang rapists will not get your fired. But a bad review of Hootie and the Blowfish might.
When Senior Editor Jim DeRogatis reviewed the band’s 1996 album Fairweather Johnson, he called it ‘bland’. Lowlights include:
All of the songs overflow with generic jangly guitars that evoke denatured versions of edgier Southern popsters like R.E.M. and the dB’s, whose Peter Holsapple is reduced by the need for health insurance to serving as fifth Hootie on organ, piano, and accordion…
These comfy, cozy sounds–the musical equivalent of Mom’s chocolate chip cookies and a big glass of milk–are paired with lyrics that reek of Hallmark-card sentimentality…
To these ears, Hootie are the blandest extreme of a wave of bands…
His review was spiked, replaced with more favourable review by contributor Elysa Gardner.
DeRogatis told the New York Observer.
The Observer quoted a spokesman for Rolling Stone saying the review swap was a matter of writing quality and not opinion, and DeRogatis saying Rolling Stone Editor and Publisher Jann Wenner is not necessarily a Hootie fan, but “a fan of bands that sell eight and a half million copies” of a record. The day after the piece ran, DeRogatis was fired. (A follow-up piece in the Observer said Rolling Stone would not discuss DeRogatis’s departure for reasons of employer-employee privacy.)
Rolling Stone employment policy might change if the frat house sues…
AMY: Watch the trailer for the Amy Winehouse documentary
LONDON – JANUARY 15: Singer Amy Winehouse performs live on stage at HMV Oxford Street on January 15, 2004 in London. (Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)
Amy Winehouse was brilliant. When she died age 27 she left behind too little music.
AMY is the documentary to her short life.
LONDON – JANUARY 23: Singer Amy Whinehouse retrieves her mobile phone after receiving the Pop award for “Back to Black” at the South Bank Show Awards at the Savoy Hotel on January 23, 2007 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
This trailer features the line:
“I don’t think I’m going to be at all famous. I don’t think I could handle it. I think I would go mad”.
Only a few things have made me shed a tear – her death was one of them…
Watch Aretha Franklin sing ‘RESPECT’ in 1970 live at the Antibes Jazz Festival
Aretha Franklin 1970
Today Aretha Franklin turns 73.
Back in 1970, the ‘Queen of Soul’ prefomed her her version of Otis Redding’s 1965 song Respect at the 11th Antibes Juan-Le-Pins Jazz Festival.
In New York on Valentine’s Day, 1967, Franklin and her backing singers – her sisters Carolyn and Erma – recored the song. They feminised Redding’s lyrics.
Redding sang:
Hey little girl, you’re so sweeter than honey
And I am about to just give you all my money
Franklin countered:
I’m about to give you all of my money
And all I’m askin’ in return, honey
Is to give me my profits
When you get home…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB
Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Posted: 25th, March 2015 | In: Celebrities, Music | Comment
Blurred Lines: The Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight is The Ketchup Song
Blurred Lines: a look at songs that sound very much like other songs. Let’s look at the Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight and the Ketchup Song (Asereje) by Las Ketchup.
First up, the Gang and that catchy beat:
I said a hip hop,
Hippie to the hippie,
The hip, hip a hop, and you don’t stop, a rock it
To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie,
To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.
And now for Ketchup kids who appear, as MichaelPDeacon has discovered, to be singing the lyrics of Rapper’s Delight in comedy Spanish accents.
aserejè ja de jè de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva,
majavi an de bugui an de buididipi,
aserejè ja de jè de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva,
majavi an de bugui an de buididipi
Send us your Blurred Lines.
Madonna accuses BBC Radio 1’s 49-year-old music chief of ageism
Madonna accuses BBC Radio 1 of “discriminatory and unfair” behaviour for failing to play her latest song, Living For Love. The song failed to make the station’s playlist, which dictates its most-played songs. The BBC says this had led to “accusations of ageism from the 56-year-old’s fans”.
Radio 1 says songs are selected on “musical merit and their relevance to our young audience on a case-by-case basis”.
And who is the maven of what the young, go-ahead audience wants?
Radio 1’s 49-year-old head of music, George Ergatoudis, said the station had “moved on” from her music.
As David Hepworth tweets:
I was embarrassed about being 31 when I edited Smash Hits. I see the head of the Radio One playlist committee is 49!
Radio 1 reaches 12 million listeners a week, including 42% of all 15- to 24-year-olds (and their dads).
Posted: 12th, March 2015 | In: Music, TV & Radio | Comment
Fantastic Trip Advisor comments on The Beatles Abbey Road crossing
Phil Lucas spots comment on The Beatles Abbey Road crossing:
Although iconic, the Abbey Road zebra crossing has always been just a working crossing. Hasn’t stopped Trip Advisor.
Indie band Ex Cops open letter to McDonald’s who asked them to play for burgers during SXSW
Happy day for Amalie Bruun and Brian Harding. The pop duo known as Ex Cops are invited to play at the Austin, Texas, SXSW. It would be just great. Think of the exposure. Think of the fans. Don’t think of the money because the invite from McDonald’s wants you to appear for free.
The Ex Cops’ replied via their Facebook page:
‘McDonald’s asked us to play SXSW. This is Brian’s open letter about it.
This week our band was asked to play the McDonald’s Showcase at the annual South by Southwest, also known to music insiders as “SXSW.”
Their selling point was that this was “a great opportunity for additional exposure,” and that “McDonald’s will have their global digital team on site to meet with the bands, help with cross promotion, etc”
I don’t, and doubt that they know what this means either.
Getting past that rhetoric, at the very least a big corporation like McDonald’s can at least pay their talent a little. Right?
“There isn’t a budget for an artist fee (unfortunately)”
As of 2013, McDonalds is valued at 90.3 billion dollars.
I won’t get into the internet semantics of things you’ve probably seen on your Facebook feed; like that thing where it takes a McDonald’s worker 4 months to earn what the CEO makes in an hour, or their GMO love affair, and I will certainly spare you the bounty of photos showing how they treat their animals.
In lieu of being paid like a real artist, or anyone who is employed to do a service, McDonald’s assures us that we will “be featured on screens throughout the event, as well as POSSIBLY mentioned on McDonald’s social media accounts like Facebook (57MM likes!)”
We recently headlined a show at the Brooklyn venue Baby’s Alright. They are by no means a DIY venue, but they are still an independent small business. The owners are people our age who used to book shows at Pianos and busted their asses to open a venue of their own in Brooklyn.
While I haven’t asked Billy or Zach how much they make annually (that would be weird) I’m going to guess they’re not looking at brownstones in Prospect Park at the moment. Yet when we played, we were paid very very fairly, were provided with drink tickets, and each band member fed a full entree from their menu (try the Brussels sprouts)
I will also go ahead and save time for any schill / troll rebuttals; “Are the other showcases paying you? No one is holding a gun to your head!” This is true. It is our choice (pretty much) to fly to Austin, play shows without soundcheck, and get paid nothing to a little. But hear this loud and clear, we LOVE making music, it is what we do, and despite some of its very apparent flaws, SXSW still provides a decent venue to be heard by some people who are really there to hear new music and not just do blow with dudes who wear square toe loafers.
It is a horrifying and gross reality when one sees the true nature of corporations and their pathetic attempts to achieve relevance with millennials. Doritos received a lot of flack for their stage a couple years ago, but i’m going to assume they paid Lady Gaga.
Oh, I almost forgot; “McDonald’s will offer free food to all audience members”
I don’t doubt that tons of bands will kowtow to this lame, lame attempt at a rock show. And I’m aware that to achieve any exposure is a Herculean task in 2015, but the Boethian Wheel is a real thing, and this will continue to exist if we, as artists, keep saying yes in exchange for a taste of success. Even if smells like a shitty Fish filet.’
Can you be a burger artiste? Just wondering because McDonald’s have a few opportunities – all unpaid – for anyone who can pump sauce into intersting shapes…
Posted: 7th, March 2015 | In: Key Posts, Music, The Consumer | Comment
