Work Music.

Thinking of a way to celebrate the mediocre passage of our half-assed health care bill, one of the things I've decided on is listening to the 2008 Election day live set that Killdozer did on WFMU. And thanks to the internet, you can too. Home grown left-wing radicalism and proto-grunge to express our collectively ambivalent feelings.

NYT: Jet Plot Shows Growing Ability of Qaeda Affiliates

When I think about what the Birther movement and the Teabaggers would do with news of a successful terror attack committed on the U.S. by a skinny, African, Al Qaeda operative from Yemen, I get the sads real bad. [Link]

Happy New Year!!
2010!!

Unicorn chaser: The plane was bound for Detroit, so let's all enjoy some very political proto-punk from Death via the Evan "Funk" Davies Show [song | whole playlist ]

Autobahn & Kraftwerk: Side By Side

[For all you achievers.]

When Googling Soda Jerk, I Found This

Crash Into Me, Former Presidential Hopeful and Ongoing Trainwreck John Edwards

There's a piece in the Times today about recent developments in the John Edwards secret affair and paternity scandal. I don't think you have to be a music snob to find this part amusing:

The notion that Mr. Edwards is the father has been reinforced by the account of Andrew Young, once a close aide to Mr. Edwards, who had signed an affidavit asserting that he was the father of Ms. Hunter’s child.

Mr. Young, who has since renounced that statement, has told publishers in a book proposal that Mr. Edwards knew all along that he was the child’s father. He said Mr. Edwards pleaded with him to accept responsibility falsely, saying that would reduce the story to one of an aide’s infidelity.

In the proposal, which The New York Times examined, Mr. Young says that he assisted the affair by setting up private meetings between Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter. He wrote that Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.

[Via NYT]

"That'll Be The Day"

Implausible as it may seem, I didn't know anything about this book or the upcoming movie until two days ago. [via bEEDLEY bEEP bOOP sLIDE wHISTLE]

ALSO: In another alternate history, Buddy Holly's death is attributed to him being played by Kevin Macdonald and acting like a huge asshole.

Allegedly a "Fan Vid" for the Strokes Song "Razorblade"

I still don't understand why no one liked their 3rd album.

Some Music Videos

Someone I know compared this Swedish-based group Liechtenstein to the Vivian Girls in the limited sense that both of these all-girl trios seem capable of coasting on their looks in lieu of having anything particularly amazing to offer sonically. As this blog post's label indicates, I am in no position to weigh in on whether this is true for either band. I bring it up because I am fascinated with this concept as a corollary to the glass ceiling specifically for attractive and ambitious career women: the more perversely degrading glass floor. That being said, I liked their set (sonically!) on Friday at Don Hills and recommend seeing them and Cats on Fire when both bands play at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn on Tuesday.



I was supposed to get a song from these guys on a mix CD from someone, but in the interim, I've broken down and just started listening to them on my own. So (obviously) the song is called "I'm In Fighting Mode" and the band is British trio Let's Wrestle.

My Pandora Radio Keeps Confusing Talking Heads And Faith Hill

On The Plastic Jesus Scene From Cool Hand Luke

There was a period when the two middle brothers in my family would sing this around the house a lot. Then my dad would sing it to himself while doing dishes. The Newman performance that inspired this fad in my immediate family is pretty cathartic and suitably ambiguous.

I, for one, can't tell if Newman's weepy banjo playing is actually meant to transform the Jesus statue's glow-in-the-dark plasticity and the Madonna's rhinestones from the mild parody songwriters Ed Rush and George Cromarty had intended into a poignant contemporary analog for the cheap poverty and humility Christianity is notorious for.

Ultimately, I know I'll have to rewatch the whole movie (which I haven't done maybe since high school) to know for sure. However, what I want to think is that this is just a perfect encapsulation of how useful even empty rituals and religious trinkets can be when you are down in the dumps.

Can I Has This Michael Jackson Portrait?

[Via NYT]

Confrontational Dorkiness

Never has "white guy dancing" been done with such a defiant, "Fuck you!"

Retreating Back Into Obscurity With The Aislers Set

This is a very personal reminiscence, but the fact that I had never heard of the San Francisco-based, M86-throwbacks The Aislers Set during my first years of college (when I was getting into their immediate Doppelgängers, like Belle and Sebastian) makes me love them even more. The fact that the band has been on "hiatus" since 2003 doesn't hurt either: I love them because they're not still together, because their defeatist sound hasn't been spoiled by a long-winding career pursuing stardom or relevance. Today, their music both sounds like and is a relic to wasted precocity. Here's them doing "the Walk" as a Peel session; as well as a live version of "Fire Engines."

90's Ska Band The Aquabats Have A TV Show Pilot

These guys were in my house briefly during my last year of college (2006) because they were friends with my roommate, Vic Ruggiero, of The Slackers. I remember being told about this show's development way back then and it's nice to see that something came of it. Here's a sneak peek posted by beepboop:

Brian Wilson Census

[Click to engorge. Via graphjam]

On Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville 15 Years Later

This Slant magazine review by Jimmy Newlin seems well reasoned.

Update: Whereas this Pitchfork review by Chris Dahlen does not. "On cuts like these, guys can dig Phair because she's one of the guys." Really? Is this a 15 year reissue of your first Exile in Guyville review?

Queen Song About My Favorite Billionaire Saudi Arabian Arms-Dealer And Businessman

In addition to allegedly having once hired Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills as an escort, Adnan Khashoggi also has a song written about him (and a party on his boat) by Queen:



Khashoggi's rockstar credentials is one of the many reasons Bond movies suck. Attn screenwriters: read more nonfiction!

I Miss The Buggles

Thanks, Kylie Minogue.

Band Names You Can Only Mention Once in a PG-13 Movie

With acts like Fuck Buttons, Holy Fuck, and Fuck and event's like the L.A.-based Fuck Yeah! fest, it's my sincere belief that the eff word is making a run to replace the definite article as the most common word in indie music names.