Two icons of the ’90s, Alicia Silverstone and Alanis Morrissette, have teamed up for a cause that affects all of us (especially knowledge-worker types who have extra time on their hands to read blogs): Movies with no discernible purpose other than throwing a bunch of highly bloggable artists on the soundtrack and using those songs to score long stretches of dialogue-free “pondering” about “life.” (Oh, and their cutesy credit sequences give work to animators, I guess.) They teamed up to make a trailer for a movie called MY Mother’s Red Hat (you can already figure out the “plot,” right?), complete with soundtrack almost as long as its script—and Vampire Weekend’s “A-Punk” soundtracking the commercial’s requisite “music crazily stopping to portray a crazy scene in the movie” bit. Clip after the jump. MORE »
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things we actually like
Alanis Morrissette And Alicia Silverstone Miss The Days When Music Videos Were Only Four Minutes Long
Quotable
Creation Records Founder Screws Up The Courage To Admit That George Michael Was Awesome (Well, Duh)
Apparently, the news that George Michael was a pop genius is so big, The Guardian’s music blog had to let Alan McGee take time out from his usual My Bloody Valentine bashing to pen a 650-ish paean to his brilliance: “Faith (the album) was classic pop. It found Michael moving into Brian Wilson Pet Sounds territory. Seriously–Michael co-produced, wrote all the songs, played most of the instruments and sang backing vocals and harmonies.” So basically McGee is trying to placate the Guardian audience by appealing to their rockist tendencies, and getting into the semi-dicey “authenticity” argument (the piece ends with him nattering on about “manufactured pop” and Neil Young). I always feel weird about throwing down that particular line of justification with any album where I didn’t sit in on every tussle-filled corporate meeting, but hey, at least I have an excuse to share my four favorite songs from the album in one fell swoop. Videos after the jump! MORE »
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Attention fans of R & B: The latest entry in Tapemasters’ The Future Of R & B ziptape series has made its way online, and it looks to be a doozy, with a Ne-Yo/Brandy collaboration, Amerie’s new single, Maxwell’s outstanding “Pretty Wings,” and a track by the all-over-the-Internet Drake in the mix. (This blog has links to other entries in the series as well, in case you missed a few volumes like I did over the past few months.) [The Piff] MORE »
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Dear Sub Pop: Thank you for making the site where you can download your latest label sampler compatible with Netscape 1.0. Of course, downloading 14 songs over a 14.4 connection is probably going to tie up my phone line for the better part of a day, so I’d better make sure that I set up my modem to dial star 70 before it connects to my PPP hookup. [Sub Pop] MORE »
YouTube + the concept of the round = just click. (And keep clicking.) (Also, sorry in advance about the incoming earworm.) [things we actually like
“I imagine we are all, like cassettes, thoughts wrapped up in awkward packaging. : ),” says Erika Iris Simmons of her art project Ghost In The Machine–in which portraits of musicians are crafted from the innards of cassettes–and you know, she might have a point. Simmons has crafted images of musicians like Ian Astbury and Tom Waits out of this pretty ingenious source material, but my favorite one has to be Robert Smith, because his hair looks absolutely perfect. [Flickr; HT Dan R.] MORE »
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Idolator’s former Anono-Critic Rob Kemp looks back on his 10-year tenure as a member of the Punk Rock-Heavy Metal Karaoke backing band, during which he helped countless everyday people play out their rock and roll fantasies. He once backed up Soy Bomb! The band is throwing its 10th-anniversary party tonight in New York City, in case you want to give your dreams a whirl this evening [Decider] MORE »
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Beyonce Masterminds Flashdance Mob’s Descent On London
I’m not even going to let the fact that this was basically an extended ad for a sugarless gum hawker dim my enthusiasm for the spectacle that descended on Piccadilly Circle yesterday, when 100 Beyoncé lookalikes took over the square to perform the “Single Ladies” dance / promote the free show she’s giving at the O2 Arena this fall. Because honestly, if I could look that good in a leotard? I would have definitely participated. Hell, I would have even chewed gum the whole time, just to prove my “team player” status. [YouTube via think on this.] MORE »
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Thank You, YouTube, For Bringing Me Unedited “Solid Gold”
Any day that I’m on blogging duty, I wake up with the hope that the internet will have something magical for me that day. Most days, my level of satisfaction with what’s out there is around a five or six on a scale of one to ten. But a day when I happen to stumble upon an entire episode of Solid Gold from Jan. 11, 1986—complete with commercials? That’s a solid ten. Take in the other five segments below the cut, complete with performances by the Judds, Whitney Houston (including Whitney and Dionne Warwick covering the Jackson Browne/Clarence Clemons song “You’re A Friend Of Mine”), John Waite, and Robin Gibb. MORE »
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Lucinda Williams Might Be The Mother Teresa Of Touring
It’s easy to hate high ticket prices at shows,… MORE »
