NEW YORK, 6:01 PM, SUN JUL 6 | 1 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@idolator.com | SUBMIT A TIP | RSS

Posts Tagged “burning questions”

burning questions

Is The Afghan Whigs' "Miles Iz Ded" One Of The Greatest Songs Ever?


It's probably fitting that I was at a bar when I realized that my musical aesthetic of right now was more informed by the Afghan Whigs' bonus-track-gone-EP-anchor "Miles Iz Ded" than pretty much any other piece of music in existence. Originally a "bonus" track on Congregation that flowed right into (and in my opinion outshone) a lot of the material on its attendant album, it has taken on a life of its own in my personal pantheon (even if it's not offically realized by discographers); its junkies-gone-wild video above has only helped that process. (For those of you with long-ish memories: It's been a year and a half since we posted this song, so I think it's fair game for revisiting at this particular moment, i.e. me finding it on my local's jukebox and realizing that it's still so freaking good.) The last-call apocalypse feel of this track, which I suppose is more epitomized by the description "drinking itself into oblivion" than anything else, rings as true for me now as it did 15 years ago, when I was first wondering "wtf is this?" while letting my 5-disc changer run wild. After the jump, a video clip of "Miles" live (from an unnamed-on-YouTube festival) that more than holds up to the studio rendition. More »

1:30 AM on Sun Jul 6 2008
By Maura Johnston
142 views, 6 comments

Latest by dyfl: I love this song. I sometimes have fantasies about being a multi-millionaire who could bribe the Whigs into reforming just to play it for me. Leaving it off that best-of was a big mistake (but then, that best-of skipped "Somethin' more »

burning questions

Does Indie Need To Be More Influenced By Janet Jackson?


Fluxblog proprietor Matthew Perpetua has a plea for all those indie musicians out there who want to make music that can be described by the terms "limp psychedelic folk, faux-Animal Collective bullshitting, [or] lame-ass attempts at mimicking the Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine": Get new influences, please. He takes his first such shot across the bow of schmindie today, launching a series called, simply, "Your New Influences" that asks musicians to think about what makes great songs tick, even (especially?) if said tracks venture far beyond the usual lump of guitar-drone goo. His first suggestion is a great one—Janet Jackson's fire-breathing 1989 track "Miss You Much," which he's recommending because of its Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis production, because Rhythm Nation 1814's overall aesthetic can be gleaned from just one listen, and because it's a firecracker of a song. More »

1:45 PM on Wed Jul 2 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,063 views, 28 comments

Latest by n/a: Oh, I don't think they've pigeonholed themselves since the age of 12, but it's easy to work yourself into a rut. I think this is all fake controversy, actually, although it has illuminated a little about what people think more »

So, How Many Albums Will Usher Actually Sell? With decent reviews and interesting public appearances, Usher is virtually assured of next week's number one spot on the album chart. The question is, however, how many copies will he actually sell?

1 comment

burning questions

Is Winemouse Worse Than 2 Girls, 1 Cup?


Amy Winehouse actually did something semi-music-related this weekend, when the above clip—of her plonking away on a guitar and mewling backing vocals while her goddaughter pretty capably sang Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You"—was posted to Pete Doherty's very active YouTube channel. But of course, it was another clip on Doherty's video blog, titled "winemouse," that got most of the attention and made me wonder one thing: How low could the Internet go?

More »

1:30 PM on Mon May 19 2008
By Anthony Miccio
1,235 views, 10 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: @Maura Johnston: Yeah, Al's right - "Ain't" was the Energizer Bunny of Alicia Keys singles. Never as massive as "Fallin'" or "No One" but hung around the charts forever, and it's become probably the most reliable "gold" track for buppie-R&B more »

Inquiry Is anyone going to Neil Diamond's MySpace show in New York City tonight? I'm debating whether or not it'd be worth even trying to get in line once I'm off the blogging clock, and trying to figure out how the demographics of Neil's audience square with the MySpace demo. (The poster's really pretty. Click to enlarge it.) At least I'll get Home Before Dark, right? Wocka wocka! [MySpace]

5 comments

burning questions

Just Asking: So, Um, Who's Going To Headline Coachella In 2013?

Over at Hitsville, Bill Wyman responded to my ravings about Coachella—specifically, my love for the sets by Prince, Portishead, Kraftwerk, the Breeders, and the Verve—with the riposte "Didn't I see this show in 1995? I certainly could have, except for Kraftwerk..." A fair point, and one that I found myself thinking about a fair bit during the course of the weekend (like, for example, when Swervedriver tore into "Rave Down" and "Son Of Mustang Ford" back-to-back—not that I wasn't thrilled, but you know). But are there any acts who have come up since the turn of the millennium who can headline a 50,000-capacity festival? And what does my having to think long and hard about rounding such a list up to five (1. Jack Johnson; 2. Hmmm....) mean for the future health of the festival circuit? More »

1:00 PM on Tue Apr 29 2008
By Maura Johnston
974 views, 22 comments

Latest by Tauwan: Da Band, Dream, Danity Kane, and Day 26? more »

burning questions

Roger Waters Somehow Finds A Way To Make Me Loathe Pink Floyd Even More

I slogged through the first half of last night's main-stage-closing set by Roger Waters—which was billed as "Roger Waters Dark Side Of The Moon"—partially out of masochism, partially in the interest of sociological research, and partially because I didn't feel like dragging my ass over to the stuffed-to-capacity-all-weekend dance tent to see Modeselektor, who were the only other act playing for the first portion of Waters' set. While it was interesting in a "so this is who he lured out to the desert" sort of way, it was also infuriating, and at one point a friend said to me, "I can hear your eyes rolling back from here." But no portion of the evening filled me with more rage than the pre-show, which had as its visual an old-timey radio, a model airplane, and a tumbler of whiskey; every so often, a hand would reach into frame to change the station and/or refill the glass, and the stations that the hand hit on, for the most part, had a playlist that lulled the classic-rock fans in attendance into a state of self-righteousness: Bob Dylan, "Hound Dog," and "My Funny Valentine." There was also a "humorous" bit when the radio somehow was all-ABBA, all the time, and hand man couldn't escape from the tyranny of radio! ABBA! I mean, could you believe the nerve! More »

12:00 PM on Mon Apr 28 2008
By Maura Johnston
2,414 views, 95 comments

Latest by thumper: i remember hearing ABBA before he came on as we made our way over to the modeselektor/SMD/chromeo/justice tent and thought how epic it would have been if abba was playing instead of waters more »

burning questions

Robin Finck Rejoins Nine Inch Nails--Does That Mean He's Not Going To Tour With Axl Anymore?

Trent Reznor announced on Friday that former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck would be back in the fold for his band's summer tour, which will hit Lollapalooza and the Pemberton Festival before traveling to various arenas and amphitheaters. Now, given that Finck was a touring guitarist with Guns N' Roses, and given that Axl has been making noise about maybe putting Chinese Democracy out in time to give everyone in the country a fizzy drink, and given that there's all that Velvet Revolver drama, what does this mean for Axl and his possible touring plans for the next few months? I'm sure that the speculation will be far, far better than whatever actually winds up happening, so, y'know, have at it. [Blabbermouth]

5:10 PM on Mon Apr 7 2008
By Maura Johnston
603 views, 2 comments

Latest by n/a: All it means is that yet another person is sick of Axl's shit. more »

burning questions

Is "Beat It" The Best Rock Song Of 2008?


As already noted, the top debut on the Billboard's singles chart this week was "Beat It," Fall Out Boy and John Mayer's energetic cover of the Michael Jackson megahit. It may be a bit premature to declare this the best rock song of the year, but "Beat It"—and its success—could signify several promising developments for the state of rock. More »

3:00 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Anthony Miccio
4,456 views, 21 comments

burning questions

Is Anyone Really Surprised By The "Wikipedia Trumps MySpace For Band Info" Story?

It may be staffed by a bunch of lunatics who make Comic Book Guy seem like a fountain of pedantic restraint, but Yahoo! users apparently prefer Wikipedia to MySpace when looking for information on their favorite artists, according to Billboard. This despite Wikipedia only having data on some tens of thousands of artists, while MySpace boasts more than three million. According to Yahoo! label relations head John Lenac, "The interest that people had to go to MySpace to find out more about their favorite band is waning in favor of going to Wikipedia.... In the last six months, it's surpassed it." While I'm not a Yahoo! searcher, I too have found that Wikipedia is more useful for finding out information on bands. Why? The answers lie in usability. More »

2:15 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
By Maura Johnston
736 views, 19 comments

Latest by KurticusMaximus: @Catbirdseat: Go download Songbird. Or Amarok, if you run Linux. Both will get you pretty close to that. more »

burning questions

The "Raconteurs Model": Is It Aimed At Preventing Leaks Or Muzzling Music Critics? (Or Both?)

In the press release heralding the imminent street date of the Raconteurs' Consolers Of The Lonely, the band explains part of the reason for rush-releasing the album as follows: "[We] are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important 'first week sales'. We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it's first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it." Those last 11 words struck fear in the hearts of a lot of people who make their living by defining (or at least trying to sorta-explain) music for potential consumers, as evidenced by rumblings in our comments section and at still-allowed-to-write-at-length outlets like the Guardian. But is Jack White really trying to clamp down on music critics specifically, given that the combination of "leak culture" and the post-Yelp society has resulted in everyone being elevated to the reviewer's platform? More »

1:20 PM on Tue Mar 18 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,499 views, 18 comments

Latest by Jan74: @Chris Molanphy: Those were the days, man. more »

burning questions

Can A Good Cover Rescue A Song From Drowning In Its Bad Production?

As my family was making its annual trip down the coast of Texas to favorite Girls Gone Wild destination South Padre Island last summer, my parents called me (we were in two cars) to ask who on earth was singing the fantastic cover of the Beach Boys' song "Kokomo" they were listening to. (The track—which was by Adam Green and Ben Kweller—happened to be on one of the many peculiar mix CDs that my friends perpetually store on my car's floor.) Sure, anything involving the Moldy Peaches' Green is always going to have at least a slight twinge of shit-eating irony, but Kweller's interminably sincere presence adds gravity to the track, and the instrumentation (a definite Green strength) is beautiful. Long story short: it's a knockout cover. But is it better than the original? More »

2:45 PM on Thu Feb 14 2008
By Kate Richardson
1,153 views, 42 comments

Latest by iantenna: @kaate: west coast dude. check out johnny paycheck's "colorado kool-aid", awesome tune about race relations and beer drinking. more »

burning questions

Idolator Asks: 16 Years After It Was Invented, Why Can't We Ringtone (W)rap It Up With The Musical Condom?

So you're in the middle of sexual congress with your partner and suddenly the mood is blown when his phone starts blaring "Party Like A Rockstar" at libido-shattering volume. Except it's not his phone. It's his penis. Yes, thanks to wang wizard Paul Lyons, your prophylactic could now be polyphonic..if his musical condom, a rubber where "a chip-controlled piezoelectric sound transducer" activates a sound file with every thrust, had ever gone into production. More »

5:30 PM on Wed Feb 6 2008
By Jess Harvell
994 views, 22 comments

burning questions

DRM: Does It Even Matter?

We've talked a lot about labels' efforts to break their music free from copy protection around here, but the data on whether or not said unshackling is actually a good sales strategy is still a bit fuzzy. Digital Music News reports that most of the recent experiments with DRM-free music have, up to this point, had results that are confusing at best, although they did get a nice quote from the COO of the roll-your-own-store company Snocap claiming that "Pound for pound, MP3 sells more" to those people who actually decide to pony up for music. But do consumers buy more MP3s because they're actively looking to fight the digital-rights management monster or because they just want a song that can play on their personal-music device of choice? Since you're a bunch of pretty savvy listeners—not to flatter or anything!—let's take this issue to our polling software: More »

8:53 AM on Tue Sep 18 2007
By mjohnston
479 views, 3 comments

Latest by CarsmileSteve: to clarify, DRM isn't rly an issue, but then i've only ever bought one thing from the itunes store (the fact that i now have an account makes it more likely i'll buy MORE if i can't find what i'm more »

burning questions

Music Critics: Snobby Jerks, Or Snobby Jerks With Actual Power?

Today, Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman takes a look at the scourge of music critics—those elitist bastards who, as one can see by the sales records smashed by the likes of Lucinda Williams and Aimee Mann, control what sort of music gets popular—and their effect on the career of Steve Nieve, the Attractions keyboardist who recently wrote the opera Welcome to the Voice to almost no critical response. Friedman rants about the album for a bit, name-drops Robert Wyatt (!), and lets Nieve sigh about how there's "no 'Steve Nieve' section" in the few remaining record stores that are left. Then, at the end of the column, Friedman drops this bomb: More »

11:30 AM on Wed Aug 22 2007
By mjohnston
2,603 views, 22 comments

Latest by n/a: @therichgirlsareweeping: Yeah, all of the hot-shit opera composers of today, while they may have name recognition for people who read Pitchfork, etc. (people like Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Laurie Anderson*, Robert Ashley, and, uh, Tom Waits**), they're mostly more »

burning questions

"Rock Of Love": Do You Care?

An e-mail from a reader today, subject line "bret michaels horrible/wonderful reality show": "Have you seen it? As per VH1 policy, they're rerunning it six times a day. It's just ghastly, but you truly cannot turn away. From Michaels' pathetic, forced enthusiasm to his bizarre wigs to the varying levels of desperation in each contestant, well, this thing is quite special." I haven't seen all of the first episode, in fact—I caught the first two segments when it streamed online last week, and we did break the news that Bret was the "'90s rock star" the ladies would be competing for—but it's waiting on the TiVo, almost begging me to write about it. Should I heed its call? I'm still a little indie-logged from the Pitchfork festival, so clearly this calls for an Idolator focus group. Check out the pros and cons, as well as a handy poll, after the jump. More »

4:40 PM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By mjohnston
7,546 views, 14 comments

Latest by d: I'm late to this post but my vote is YES, YES, YES. Because while Flavor of Love never tried to be about music (it was still awesome) in this one Brett M. keeps talking about how he needs a girl more »