Wednesday, June 10, 2009 4:00PM - By Adam Tod Brown
The second season of HBO’s acclaimed vampire series True Blood is fast approaching (June 14th) and, honestly, we’re pretty damn excited. While the show is already jam packed with memorable characters, being a music site and all, we can’t help but wish that some of our favorite (or not) musicians could make a cameo appearance or two. Why? For starters, because some of them just look like they would fit the part. Others would maybe fit the part, but we mostly just want to see them die a violent on-screen death.
Here is who we have in mind…
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Friday, March 6, 2009 11:00AM - By Adam Tod Brown
Back and forth bickering is nothing new when it comes to celebrity heiresses or rappers, but you don’t see it too often in the indie rock world. When it is time to bring the cattiness though, no indie rocker can be relied up more than Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips. In the past, he’s gone after Beck and Nirvana’s Nevermind album. Now, his scorn is being directed at Arcade Fire.
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Thursday, March 5, 2009 11:00AM - By Adam Tod Brown
As usual, the arrival of a new U2 album is being treated as something akin to the return of Jesus, and unfortunately, U2 lovefest 2009 shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. If anything, it is gaining momentum. First there was that over-enthusiastic 5 star Rolling Stone review of their new album, No Line On the Horizon. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that they would be taking over the Late Show With David Letterman stage for a five night residency. And now, out of NYC comes news that mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to name a street after the band, temporarily, anyway.
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009 9:31AM - By Adam Tod Brown
Good news for people who like boring news! Interpol bassist Carlos Dengler (that’s Carlos D. to you) is making a movie. Ok, not a full on movie, more like a short feature. The film, My Friends Told Me About You will be debuted in New York on April 17 and will also be featured on the eighth volume of McSweeney’s Wholpin DVD. From the sounds of Dengler’s press release about the film, it’s pretty much a lock that it will be the most boring moment on what should be an otherwise great DVD:
“Making MY FRIENDS TOLD ME ABOUT YOU was a chance to explore the narrative potential of sound and spectacle. The idea was to achieve the expression of film as a composition, a tone poem of carefully selected cinematic effects and gestures.”
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009 5:00PM - By Adam Tod Brown
Prince is sticking to his guns when it comes to not releasing his upcoming album through a major label, but that doesn’t mean he’s averse to letting corporate America help him do it. Beginning March 29th, a three disc set which includes two albums of new material (Lotusflow3er and MPLSound) and an album none of us would have spent money on otherwise (Elixir, the debut album from protégé Bria Valente) will be available exclusively at Target department stores for $11.99. It’s a strange move, but damn if that isn’t a recession friendly price.
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009 9:25AM - By Adam Tod Brown
In what has to be the greatest news I’ve heard in a long time, the almighty Spinal Tap will be once again cranking it up to eleven and reuniting for a new album and North American tour. Sort of.
Rather than revisiting the crazy wigs and even crazier spandex look of 1984’s essential This Is Spinal Tap mockumentary, the trio of Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean will perform as themselves. The 30-city “Unwigged & Unplugged” tour begins April 17th in Vancouver and will, awesomely, also feature songs from the 2003 folk music comedy A Mighty Wind. No skin tight pants in exchange for the possibility of hearing “Old Joe’s Place” live seems like a decent trade off. With that said, the band is also apparently planning a few live performances in full Spinal Tap gear, which hasn’t happened since their hilariously all star studded performance at Live Earth London in 2007.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009 1:00PM - By Adam Tod Brown
In a first for musicians on iTunes, yesterday Depeche Mode released an iTunes Season Pass. Season passes have been in place for years on iTunes for various tv shows. They allow iTunes users who pay a one time fee, usually anywhere from $9.99 to as high as $49.99, to download new episodes of the shows as they become available. It has reportedly been a successful platform for iTunes, but this is the first time the concept has been tried with music.
So what do you get with the Depeche Mode season pass? Upon signing up for the $19 subscription, users immediately receive the band’s new single “Wrong” as well as a remixed version of “Oh Well.” In the months leading up to the April 21st release of Depeche Mode’s new album, Sounds of the Universe, subscribers will receive additional new music and videos and, of course, a digital copy of the full album upon its release. But most interestingly, the season pass also promises content after the release of the album. Does that mean live tracks from the subsequent tour? Maybe a few B-sides? Ticket pre-sales? Who knows?
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009 12:00PM - By Adam Tod Brown
The February leg of the Drive By Truckers’ Righteous Path tour hit a snag late last week when co-frontman Patterson Hood came down with walking pneumonia, an ailment that would make for an awesome band name, but doesn’t lend itself well to high energy rocking. After fighting through a few weeks of on again/off again illness, Hood was forced to sit out two DBT shows over the weekend in Washington, D.C. According to a post on the band’s website, the remaining shows this week, including tonight’s show in Lexington, KY, have been postponed. So far, three dates have already been rescheduled:
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Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:00AM - By Adam Tod Brown
Once again, Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. Chances are, unless you’re young, wealthy, attractive and in a relationship that is less than six months old, you probably loathe this pretend holiday just as much as everyone else does. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Why spend another lonely night curled up in the fetal position on the couch eating heart shaped pizza and dwelling on your affectionless existence? Why not try something new? Why not make this February 14th an emo Valentine’s Day?
Spending Valentine’s Day with a new found emo crush may not sound all that appealing, but hear me out. Fellas, unless you’re completely incompetent in the ways of seduction, you know there is truth in what I’m about to say next. Emotionally unstable chicks are easy. Emo chicks have emotional instability in unlimited supplies. So do emo dudes. And ladies, who doesn’t secretly love a project? Somewhere out there, some guyliner wearing emotional wreck is waiting for you to right his ship. And he’s probably listening to My Chemical Romance. Maybe you can fix that too while you’re at it. See? This V-day, emo is the way to go. But you’re going to have to do a few things to make it happen.
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