WiRE EAtER

PAVEMENT update.

2009-09-17T13:06:00.006-05:00

Tickets for first Pavement reunion show go on sale tomorrow at 10:00 am Eastern Time. Buy'em here. According to Matador Records, there will also be a world tour and compilation album. This is reeeaallll.

YES.

HOLY CANOLY! Pavement's getting back together.

2009-09-16T12:43:00.004-05:00

According to BrooklynVegan Pavement will actually be reuniting next fall with dates at NYC's Central Park Summerstage. Short of Elliott Smith rising from the dead or other physical impossibilities, I don't know that there is any such thing as better news. Yep.

Aubrey O'Day samples New Order in the worst way possible and then Bernard Summers digs a grave so that he can roll over in it.

2009-08-27T22:37:00.010-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a man named Sean Combs who liked to refer to himself by silly titles like "Puff Daddy," "P. Diddy," or even just "Diddy." One day, this Sean man decided to have a TV show called Making the Band 3 where he would get some regular people and make a band out of them. On that band show, there was this one girl called Aubrey O'Day. She was going to be a super star because she could dance real good and stuff. Her good dancin' made PuffCombs think she was probably part African American. He TOTALLY wanted her to be in the band he was making. That band was called Danity Kane. Everybody thought it was a SUPER cool band name. Anyway, the whole world loved Aubsie, probably because she was sooo hot. The Aub was so hot that she even got to do some sexy poses for magazines. The sexy poses made P.Combs SeanDaddy a little bit mad though. He though 'Brey was trying to steal the fame that he had given her so that she could go out and be famous ALL BY HERSELF. DiddySean would not put up with that, so he kicked Aub'Day out of his wicked cool band that he had made. But it didn't matter. She was already SUPER famous and all that stuff.

So Day O'Aub decided to be in movies and plays and stuff. (She could do that because she was already famous.) And then she even started singing some songs allllll by herself. So by the time 2009 rolled around, she was pretty much a DOUBLE super star and was, like, wayyyyyy famous. She was so famous that she could do ANYTHING she wanted to. (Kind of like how Ozzie took a pee pee on the Alamo that one time.) You see, Aub Aub was so RIDICULOUSLY famous that she could even sample way kewl bandz like New Order and do ANYTHING she wanted with their songs. She could totally RUIN them if she wanted to. She was THAT famous.

And so that's pretty much what she did. Listen to this absolutely horrible sample of "Bizarre Love Triangle." (Well, it's actually kind of funny. Too bad the Aubster probably doesn't see the humor in it.)

Note the lyrics: "Every time they see us ballin', they get down on their knees and hate." (Shoot me?)

Never Falling - Aubrey O'Day (Ft. Roscoe Umali)

Why are people making best of 2000s lists already???

2009-08-25T12:26:00.006-05:00

(This is a picture of some bro. Don't know who it is. But he is for real.)

And why am I giving in? Well, I'll tell you in a roundabout kind of way. But I must begin with some brief explanation of what makes my list unique.

Here it is: Ahem. I am merely listing my favorite records of the decade and I am not (like everyone else) claiming that they are objectively the best. Instead, I recognize that I, your humble blogger, comes from a specific social location that has no doubt greatly influenced my tastes and opinions. My real musical appreciation began amongst South Carolina hardcore kids as I began to discover that my friends and I had horrible taste in music. I moved on from there. Whatever. The bottom line: what I present to you here is not "The Top 40 Albums of the 2000s" but rather "The Best 40 Albums of the 2000s According to an Ex-Pop Punk/Ex-Straightedge Hardcore Dude in his 20s Who Spent Several Years Living in a Place Where the Only Music Venue was a Skatepark, Later Moving to Nashville, Thinking it Would Be Cooler, And Discovering that Even in a City of Music, The Good Bands Would Rather Play in Chicago."

I also must address the "why now?" question. Basically, it's Pitchfork's fault. I'm not sure why they put our their lists so freaking early. It was a stupid idea. But the thing is, I feel like I need to put out my list before them. Beat them to the punch. Do ridiculous things like including Brand New and Saves the Day. Do even more ridiculous things like putting Animal Collective all the way down at number 9. Piss people off. I need to do all these things before Pitchfork does because, well, I am a winner. I am here to win. So watch me.

Here's the list yo. Hate it if you want:

1. Figure 8 – Elliott Smith (2000)

2. You Forgot It in People – Broken Social Scene (2002)

3. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco (2002)

4. Kid A – Radiohead (2000)

5. Is This It? – The Strokes (2001)

6. Elephant Eyelash – WHY? (2005)

7. Fever to Tell – Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2003)

8. Discovery – Daft Punk (2001)

9. Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective (2009)

10. From a Basement on a Hill – Elliott Smith (2004)

11. Funeral – The Arcade Fire (2004)

12. Rabbit Habits – Man Man (2008)

13. Alopecia – WHY? (2008)

14. Read Music, Speak Spanish - Desaparecidos (2002)

15. Cross – Justice (2007)

16. Control – Pedro the Lion (2002)

17. The Woods – Sleater-Kinney (2005)

18. Picaresque – The Decemberists (2005)

19. The Ugly Organ – Cursive (2003)

20. You Are Free – Cat Power (2003)

21. Dear Catastrophe Waitress – Belle & Sebastian (2003)

22. The Animal Years – Josh Ritter (2006)

23. Room on Fire – The Strokes (2003)

24. Time (The Revelator) – Gillian Welch (2001)

25. Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? – The Unicorns (2003)

26. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (2008)

27. Right Now, You’re in the Best of Hands. And If Something Isn’t Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know in a Hurry – Bear vs. Shark (2003)

28. Deja Entendu – Brand New (2003)

29. The Sunset Tree – The Mountain Goats (2005)

30. EP – The Fiery Furnaces (2005)

31. Boxer – The National (2007)

32. Summer in Abaddon – Pinback (2004)

33. Fevers and Mirrors – Bright Eyes (2000)

34. Drum's Not Dead – Liars (2006)

35. Give Up – The Postal Service (2003)

36. Stay What You Are – Saves the Day (2001)

37. Friend and Foe – Menomena (2007)

38. Post-Nothing - Japandroids (2009)

39. Devotion – Beach House (2008)

40. 23 – Blonde Redhead (2007)

Low fidelity songs are maybe quaint or pretentious even but I like them still.

2009-08-21T11:24:00.011-05:00

A couple of cute little lo-fi ditties that I've been enjoying lately because I'm a pretentious indie snob who feels that if music is ever clearly audible, then it is obviously overproduced radio pop that might in many ways be "good" but is definitely not a "cool" or "hip" thing to enjoy:

EASYBOY - Chest Swimmers

This song sounds a lot like Fevers & Mirrors/Letting Off the Happiness era Bright Eyes. (Think "The City Has Sex" or "Mirror/Scale/Indifferent Clocks" Bright Eyes.) It's pretty neat, actually. "Chest Swimmers" is a nifty little lo-fi teenage folk song that manages to sound much more uplifting(?) than Conor Oberst ever really did. EASYBOY is Eric J. Farber, one third of the experimental trio Truman Peyote. Check out his MySpace for some songs that don't sound anything like "Chest Swimmers." EASYBOY will be releasing a cassette called Friends via Spooky Town Artifacts sometime soon.

tUnE-yArDs - Sunlight

Merrill Garbus--aka tUnE-yArDs--describes her music as sounding like "Your mom when she gets really mad but instead of whoopin' yo' ass she starts making crazy-ass beats with the pots and pans AND yo' ass." I guess maybe that's sort of accurate. Garbus's music blends tribal rhythms, chants, ukuleles, and all kinds of crazy stuff into some pretty catchy lo-fi afro/folk/pop/beats/stuff. Her entire debut record, Bird-Brains, was recorded using a Sony digital voice recorder and tracked in Audacity, a free online recording software. Bird-Brains is available on CD through Rough Trade and on vinyl through marriagerecs.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Tiësto helps Tegan & Sara sing better.

2009-08-20T17:22:00.007-05:00

Dutch DJ Tiësto's upcoming studio album, Kaleidoscope, will feature a random plethora of special guests from Nelly Furtado to Emily Haines to Calvin Harris. One such collaboration is with the nasaly indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara. Now, I'm no hater. I mean, whatever. T&S write some decent songs. But when I listen to them for more than a minute or two, I actually start to phlegm beginning to drip from back of my nasal cavity and into my throat. Something about the way those kids sing just makes me uncomfortable. It's sad, really, because I think I would love their music if they got new vocalists (for example: Tegan and Sara could decide to be "/songwriters" rather than "singer/songwriters"). That would be a good artistic move.

So imagine my pleasant surprise when I heard this Tiësto collab. Tiësto really seems to be steering the girls in a t.A.T.u. type of direction. It's really a great improvement. And who knows, maybe Tiësto will join their band or something. (Yeah, right.)

It probably sounds like I'm being mean to the poor girls. Making fun of their "voices." Saying nasty things about their "music." Maybe I am, but at least Sara seems to be on board with me as far as the whole Tiësto thing goes. As she told Stereogum:

"Tegan and I would happily disband if Tiësto let us tour the world with him. I'd take dance lessons and would be open to discussions about wearing "outfits" on stage. We're proud of the collaboration and can't wait for people to hear the song!"

Well alrighty then. Way to go, Tiësto. Take a listen if you feel so inclined:

Tiësto - Feel It In My Bones (Feat. Tegan & Sara)

Kaleidoscope comes out October 20. Tiësto will also be on tour (and hitting Nashville on Oct. 27):

09/24 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
09/25 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
09/26 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
10/01 - Boston, MA @ Tsongas Arena
10/02 - Montreal, Canada @ Bell Center
10/03 - Toronto, Canada @ Arrow Hall
10/10 - Atlanta, GA @ North Atlanta Trade Center
10/11 - Washington, DC @ Fur
10/12 - Cleveland, OH @ Aura
10/13 - Columbus, OH @ Boma
10/14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
10/15 - Charlotte, NC @ The Forum
10/16 - Orlando, FL @ UCF Arena
10/17 - Miami, FL @ Liv
10/18 - Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
10/23 - Houston, TX @ Reliant Arena
10/24 - Dallas, TX @ The Palladium
10/25 - San Antonio, TX @ Cowboys
10/26 - OK City, OK @ City Walk
10/27 - Nashville, TN @ Limelight
10/28 - St Louis, MO @ Home
10/29 - Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
10/30 - Minneapolis, MN @ Myth
10/31 - Chicago, IL @ The Congress
11/01 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
11/07 - El Paso, TX @ TBA
11/09 - Denver, CO @ TBA
11/10 - Edmonton, Canada @ Shaw Conference Center
11/12 - Calgary, Canada @ Big Four Building (Stampede Grounds)
11/14 - Vancouver, Canada @ PNE
11/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA
11/21 - San Francisco, CA @ TBA
11/22 - Phoenix, AZ @ TBA
11/28 - Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
12/31 - Las Vegas, NV @ Haze

...And speaking of Weezer, um, does anyone want to hear some 8-bit videogame versions of their songs?

2009-08-19T12:34:00.007-05:00

Okay. This is weird. Some folks at Pterodactyl Squad have put together an 8-bit Weezer tribute album. They're calling it: Weezer - The 8-bit Album. (I see what you're doing with the whole, Green/Blue/8-bit thing, but seriously guys, it's 2009 now. Be a little creative.) Most of the music was actually created with old videogame hardware, hooked up to some home-designed programs. The songs vary quite a bit stylistically, from very stripped down renditions to full Game Boy orchestras. (Yay!)

Here's Buddy Holly made into some kind of ridiculous mortal combat(ish?) song:

nordloef - Buddy Holly (Weezer Cover)

You can download the whole compilation for free here.

Weezer's New Album Has an Awesomely Stupid Name

2009-08-18T13:39:00.004-05:00

Weezer's seventh album will be called Raditude. Seriously. The first single is a poppy, radio friendly song called "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To." That's for real too.

So, at the very least, we can say that Weezer is super great at giving things titles. As in, I kind of want Rivers Cuomo to name my band. The song itself, on the other hand, is...ehh...I'll let you decide for yourself. (I'd give it a solid "decent.") It's a alright pop song. The acoustic/drums arrangement in the verses is neat. Your mind probably won't be blown though.

Take a listen here. The record comes out October 27.

xxCHECKxxOUTxxTHISxxVIDEOxx

2009-08-17T11:08:00.006-05:00

This is a video of a couple kids from The xx playing "Crystalised" for an Amsterdam Acoustics session. It's kind of neat.

Radiohead Officially Release the Leaked Song

2009-08-17T10:38:00.005-05:00

It looks like Radiohead didn't have a cool EP up their sleeve after all. Instead, they released the song "These Are My Twisted Words" (you know, the one that most fans had already heard due to the leak a few days ago) today via their W.A.S.T.E. online store. So, it's nothing that we haven't already heard, but if you download the song from W.A.S.T.E., it's still free, and you get some really cool artwork. I mean seriously, the artwork is pretty neat. Basically, there's a PDF included that you're supposed to print out on tracing paper, and then you line up all the sheets however you want to, and then--BAM--you've got your own personalized album artwork that looks something like the picture above but different. Kinda nifty.

Download the song + nifty artwork here.

New Music: Grooms

2009-08-16T15:56:00.006-05:00

Once upon a time there was this band called Muggabears. Then, on April 14, 2009, said band posted the following on their blog:

Hello Everybody,

We were Muggabears, now we're Grooms. Is it a verb? Is it a noun? Not telling.

We've also put up a new song off our new album. The album is called Rejoicer. And the song is called Dreamsucker. We hope you like it.

- Gabi, Emily, Travis

So anyway, they're called Grooms now, which I'm pretty sure is both verb and noun (hence the oh-so-cryptic message). Grooms is most clearly a pun for which I simply have not yet discovered the context.

Anyway, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Oklahoma trio will release their ten song debut on October 20th, which I am quite excited to hear. The five songs currently available on Grooms' MySpace are a noisy barrage of Sonic Youth-esque distortion and reverb fronted by very Pavementy melodies and yelps.

Nashville readers may also be interested to know that Rejoicer will be released by Death By Audio Records, who also put out a few seven-inches for local hype magnets JEFF: The Brotherhood. Maybe we'll get lucky enough to have a "JEFF the Groom Grooms The Brotherhood" house party or something soon.

Have a taste of the first single:

Grooms - Dreamsucker

New Radiohead EP on Monday?

2009-08-15T13:17:00.009-05:00

It looks like Radiohead might be going all In Rainbows on us once again. As most of the world knows by now, a new song, entitled "These Are My Twisted Words," leaked earlier this week, evoking a single, massive "WTF" from the global music community. Just when Thom Yorke breaks the painful news that a new Radiohead record won't be coming out in a long time, a song leaks. Would Thommyboy really lie to us like that? Of course not. There simply must be another answer.

At first, it was speculated that the song might be a track for the next Twilight soundtrack, to which Thom will be lending his musical talents. Well my dear fellers, the Internet gurus of the world have researched/hacked/whatever they do and are now theorizing that Radiohead will put out an EP entitled Wall of Ice on Monday. You can check out Stereogum's article if you want to see how this marvelous conjecture was arrived at. I guess it makes sense or whatever.

Listen to Thom's twisted words:

Radiohead - These Are My Twisted Words

Bloody Panda: A Band With a Relevant Name

2009-08-14T11:13:00.009-05:00

Putting "bear" in your band name is a very cool thing to do. All the super hip kids really like bands with "bear" names. Panda Bear, Grizzly Bear, Minus the Bear, Panda Bear, Bear vs. Shark (r.i.p.), did I mention Panda Bear? I recently heard about this guy who makes music and calls his musical self "Message to Bears." Evidently he's getting pretty popular. Probably because of the "bear" name. So, that's like fifteen "bear" bands that I just came up with off the top of my head. But when we start talking about "animal" bands in general, it gets ridiculous. There are SO a lot of them: Animal Collective, Dr. Dog, Cat Power, Modest Mouse, the Black Crowes, Arctic Monkeys, Fleet Foxes, this is getting boring. All I'm really trying to say is that animals are pretty hip, but bears are totes the hippest.

So anyway, that said, there's a new "bear/animal" band in town. They're called Bloody Panda. When I first saw their name, I thought to myself, "That sounds like a cool, hip, new band!" But then I saw this picture of Bloody Panda:

I mean, like, woah. Those are some scary-ass costumes. It looks like those dudes in the masks killed that girl. And since those are executioner masks, I'm pretty sure that we can safely assume that they did, in fact, kill that girl. So as I looked at that picture, I realized that... Bloody Panda = dead panda = dead Panda Bear = Animal Collective losing 1/4 of the collective to death.

THESE GUYS WANT TO KILL PANDA BEAR.

After a little while I calmed down and realized that--whether Bloody Panda really wants to kill Panda Bear or not--they're name is really freaking relevant. I listened to the track "Sacades II" from their forthcoming record Summon and was pleasantly surprised. The avant-garde doom crew does this thing where they play metal like Grizzly Bear would play it. Or maybe you could compare them to Sunn 0))) with female and drums. Or both. Regardless of who you compare them to, Bloody Panda's music makes absolutely clear the utter appropriateness of the band's name. The "Bloody" part clearly refers to metal on metal. This band is so metal: their guitars are tuned so low, they have so much distortion, and I bet they play through, like, five hundred Peavey 5150 amps. But the "Panda" part of the name surely must refer to their ambient, atmospheric, reverby hipness. The wintry echo chamber of vocals could put a baby to sleep (well, until the screaming starts). Bloody Panda is, lyke, way cool, man. It's like metal for hipsters.

Check it yo:

Bloody Panda - Saccades II

Human synthesizer. This is crazy.

2009-08-13T14:10:00.005-05:00

The guys at Sony music have decided to use a human synthesizer to promote Calvin Harris's new single, "Ready for the Weekend." The technology, called Bare Conductive, was developed by RCA Industrial Design and Engineering masters students Bibi Nelson, Becky Pilditch, Isabel Lizardi and Matt Johnson. The "humanthesizer" uses conductive body paint to trigger electric currents and operate a synthesizer. This video is nuts. I have a hard time believing that this was all actually done live, but who knows. It's definitely worth watching.

You can also check out an interesting "making of" video here.

Jack White writes a spontaneous song, hastily presses it to vinyl, and it's pretty good.

2009-08-13T13:10:00.012-05:00

Jack White recently released a new song from his solo endeavor via his recently formed label, Third Man Records. It's a nasty, bluesy, guitar and vocal track that Jack apparently wrote on the spot for the guitar documentary It Might Get Loud. And, I mean, the song's good. What did you expect? It doesn't even seem like he wrote it on the spot. Props to Jackie-boy for his mad chops and freeflowing lyrical expertise. Or something like that. The song's called "Fly Farm Blues."

Take a listen:

But, then again, as Pitchfork pointed out (not to detract from the accomplishment that is "Fly Farm Blues"), Jack did kind of already write the song for the White Stripes' Elephant record. Listen on YouTube.

Heath Ledger + Modest Mouse = Woah

2009-08-12T11:08:00.007-05:00

Earlier this year (Springish?) a rumor hit the internet about a video that Heath Ledger had begun directing for Modest Mouse before his death in January 2008. Well the video finally hit the internet last week, and if you haven't seen it yet, you need to. It's pretty, like, woah.

According to a press release on MM's myspace, Ledger originally presented the idea for the video to Isaac Brock in January 2007. Ledger's intention was to raise awareness about commercial whale hunting practices. And, well, I'd say he definitely makes his point. Just wait until about halfway through the video. It gets downright gory. (Maybe not safe for young children? "NSFYC?") You can watch it here.

Deastro - Free EP!

2009-08-11T13:01:00.006-05:00

So this guy (Deastro aka Randolph Chabot) makes some pretty cool music on his laptop. With his latest EP, Orange Swimmer Red Summer, Deastro uses a bunch of different synth patches to pull the listener all over the place. At many points, everything is ethereal and ambient, but before you know it, you feel surrounded electronicized, bit-crushed tribal drum beats. Or Nintendo music or something. Deastro also throws in quite a few great Brian Wilson- or Beatles-esque hooks that I just can't seem to shake out of my head (check out "Red Summer"). At the very least, Orange Swimmer Red Summer is worth a couple listens. Besides, it's FREE on Deastro's blog right now.

Here are a few tracks to give you the idea (although you should really listen to the EP as a whole):

Deastro - Red Summer

Deastro - Orange Swimmer

Deastro - Encounter With Unknown Substance M

New Music: The xx

2009-08-10T14:59:00.015-05:00

I'm really glad that the 80s hasn't been completely abandoned. With bands like M83 reviving and reworking the whole 80s synth-pop idea, it seems that the music of the decade is becoming as influential as (some of) it deserves to be. The next big thing in the our little indie-synth movement just might be a quartet of London kids called "The xx." With influences ranging from American R&B to the Cure's gothic trilogy, The xx has concocted a minimalistic, loop-driven, teenage post-punk that reminds me of Liars, M83 and even Lou Reed, while giving distinct nods to the atmospheric, dark pop of the 80s.

Forming in 2008, while still in high school, the London group tinkered with electronic instruments for a short while before signing a record deal and recording their first full length, xx. The boy/girl vocal combination of Romy Madley Croft (guitar) and Oliver Sim (bass) gives the band a very MBV feel at times. Along with bandmates Baria Qureshi (keyboards/guitar) and Jamie Smith (programming/samples), the band creates an eerie, bass and drum machine driven dark pop that--unfortunately--could be hyped to hell in the coming months. We can only hope that The xx doesn't get Vampire-Weekended upon the release of xx on October 20. I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

The xx's first single Basic Space is available on Rough Trade.

Here are a some samples:

The xx - Crystalised

The xx - Islands

The xx - Vcr

Pope Benedict Record Drops in November

2009-08-10T13:10:00.006-05:00

It appears that the Contemporary Christian Music bandwagon has passed through Rome and His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has officially jumped on. Master PBXVI has finished recording his first album, Alma Mater, which will be released November 30 on Geffen records . Not only will the Papal rock star be showcasing his mad vocal chops, but he will actually be belting thestuff out in five languages. (Clearly the man is not only musical, but wicked smart as well.) The album, which will be mixed at Abbey Road, will feature backing vocals by The Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of rome as well as some recordings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The eight-track record will be a collection of speeches and masses that Benedict has done in the past.

Colin Barlow, the president of Geffen, told Reuters: "I think in this day and age, as the public are, as I am, people fascinated by all kinds of music. We're not fed on one type of music." I'm not really sure what the first part of Colin's statement means, but it seems to me that Benedict's record deal is very much a William Hung sort of thing. Come on Mr. Barlow, just admit that you signed the Pope because it's funny.

It's also important to note that the Interscope-Geffen-A&M music group is home to the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, MIA, Rob Zombie, blink-182 and a number of notables. Now that the Pope is a part of the crew, we can only hope for some awesome collaborations. I'm still waiting for Geffen to announce the Dr. Zombie Benedict World Tour. That will be so unbelievably rad. I'm pre-ordering those tickets.

The sad news: According to The Friggin Loon, there will be no downloadable songs. Apparently they've found a way to make you buy the CD? I'm not really sure how that works, but if i discover any samples, I'll be sure to try and post them.

Noah and the Whale

2009-08-09T16:25:00.008-05:00

UK folk-pop band Noah and the Whale will be releasing a new full length record on August 31 in the UK and October 6 in the US. I stumbled upon this trailer for the record. As per usual, Noah and the Whale makes wicked-cool music videos that always tend to look like a Wes Anderson film. Still, after hearing the new song that plays in the background ("Blue Skies"), I'm a bit worried that N and the W may be abandoning their carefree, low-fi roots. Regardless, the song is pretty good. I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, the video for Noah and the Whale's first single, "Five Years Time" is a must. You can't help but love it.

Part 1

2009-08-09T14:00:00.011-05:00

This is Part 1. Kind of like a first kiss, I don't really know what to do with Part 1. Or whatever. Should I try to run all the bases now, or maybe wait a week for that? Is it appropriate for me to divulge the details of my mental illnesses, dead pets, and nightmares, or is that getting too personal too soon? It seems that the best response to this kind of situation is to just drink more and let the rest pan out according to fate or God or happenstance. So that's what I'll do.

A lot of crazy stuff has happened recently: John Hughes died and along with him Devendra Banhart's beard, Broken Social Scene released a cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," Elephant 6 decided that it's about time to raise from the dead (Circulatory System to release first album in 8 years, which will feature Jeff Mangum), and the Fiery Furnaces realized that it might be more profitable to release a silent record than one with music on it. I won't say too much else in this post because it is Part 1 and I feel a little uncomfortable saying very much at this point. For now, I'll consider myself caught up with the current happenings and ready to move on.

I'll leave you with a few tunes that I've been enjoying lately:

Noisettes - Never Forget You

I recently discovered this London soul-punk trio. It turns out they've been around for about three years, making music that vaguely reminds me of the Pipettes, Sharon Jones, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This track's definitely worth a listen.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (Dan Sena Remix)

Dan Sena's hard electro never ceases to impress me. This Yeah Yeah Yeahs remix isn't as hard as some of Sena's stuff, but it will definitely get you dancing. Listen loud.

Circulatory System - Overjoyed

This very "Olivia Tremor Control-esque" song, a barrage of noise unified by the melody of W. Cullen Hart's slithering vocals, straddles the line between eerie and happy. This track will be on the band's forthcoming record, Signal Morning. I'm very excited to hear the rest of it.

Broken Social Scene - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division Cover)

I can't decide how I feel about Drew and crew's cover. On one hand, I love it. The arrangement and production brilliantly re-imagines the song and yet clearly does justice to the original. My problem with the track is Kevin Drew. His grossly exaggerated attempt to sound like Ian Curtis kind of kills it for me at times. I'll let you make your own decision, though.

The National - Pretty in Pink (Psychedelic Furs Cover)

In memory of John Hughes, here's a beautiful little cover of the Psychedelic Furs' "Pretty in Pink" by the National.