Friday, January 27, 2012
Music news / randomania Tracklist: Alec Baldwin uses Spotify to make classic rock-filled mixtapes
Posted by Spencer Sloan on Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 11:25 AM
>> Stereogizzle has the very very newest music vid from Field Mouse.
>> I scream, you scream, we all scream for the new Schoolboy Q album, Habits & Contradictions.
>> Watch totally unknown unsigned complete nobody artist Adele do something called "Turning Tables" live on From the Artists Den.
>> Watch a super 8 montage for the Ex-lovers' peppy dream pop "Starlight Starlight."
>> Interview interviews A$AP Rocky.
>> Elton John loves that sweet Pepsi money.
>> Uncle Karl made Azealia Banks a sweater with his face on it. Thanks?! Now with video.
>> Jean Paul Gautier makes Amy Winehouse halloween costumes?
>> Pre-wrestlemania Hulk Hogan was a session bass player and almost joined Metallica.
>> Alec Baldwin's favorite records. Related: How to dj a party.
>> Vanilla Ice gets into the indie rock game.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
VIDEO VIDEO: The return of D'Angelo
Posted by Carlton Hargro on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 6:47 PM
Thank God for YouTube.
If not for the wacky video-sharing site, we'd probably never be able to see D'Angelo — the soul singer who disappeared for around a decade or so after making an ass-load of great music — return to the stage today. He was, after all, half a world away in Stockholm, Sweden.
Yes, lucky for us there is a Youtube and that tons of folks with camera phones caught footage of him performing (songs both new and old).
Check out a few clips of the man back in action:
In the Biz / Off Beat How to rock like the 1%
Posted by Gabe Vodicka on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Having been on both sides of the music machine (the music and now, uh, the machine), I'm frequently saddened but rarely surprised by the depth of the devolution from DIY garage band-ism to overpaid PR flackery, from three chords and an attitude to pay-for-play and Dad's credit card. This stuff is wild, y'all! Bands aren't really bands anymore; they're just teeny, tiny corporations. But as we know, corporations are people, so boom-ba-ba-loom-ba-wow.
But I guess I've still been holding out to a degree, harboring some essential smidgen of naivete, some shard of innocence that allows me to get by day to day without giving up and wandering the streets, searching for change on the ground, humming that goddamn Adele song that's objectively pretty good but then you hear it a thousand times and it starts to sound like nails on the world's longest chalkboard but ANYWAY.
The point is, TIME has an awfully depressing story (via Gawker) guest-written by a young and optimistic indie rock band called Two Lights, a band whose music is actually not all that bad (again, objectively, in a Coldplay sort of way), but who claim - nay, boast - that they've spent over $100,000 to date trying to kickstart their music career.
We've been mentored by former British rock stars, posed for photo shoots, hung out with models, worked with Grammy-nominated producers and rocked some of the top clubs in New York (places like the Mercury Lounge and the Highline Ballroom), opening for some of our favorite bands.
But wait! The band goes on to explain that, despite their extravagant lifestyle, "we're broke" (aww!), explaining that all their (parents') money has been frittered away on band-related expenses, including:
Promotion: Once you have music out, you need to promote it. We pay a guy to send email blasts to databases of hip music blogs. Postcards, demo CDs and other materials are also essential. Cost to date: $1,000.Living in New York City: Our cousin Abby lives in Atlanta in a house — a house! — with a couple of friends. They pay a third of what we pay for our combined living spaces. New York is absurdly expensive — but the band's future demands that we live here rather than, say, our hometown in Maine. All told, we estimate that decision costs us an extra $1000 a month. Cost to date: $18,000.
Emphasis mine. Because obviously bands can't make it in Atlanta.
There's also voice, piano and guitar lessons (gonna get all real talk and say if you need lessons you probably shouldn't be in a band, seriously) and $25,000 worth of musical equipment. I'll give you a minute.
There's an important political analogy in here somewhere, but I'm too despondent to find it right now, so I'll settle for that lazy headline. Excuse me while I go find that one Minutemen album I honestly never really liked that much and make myself listen front to end, full blast, with my head right by the speakers. (Is this that politics of envy I keep hearing about?)
VIDEO Damn, Bernadette Seacrest hurts so good
Posted by Rodney Carmichael on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 2:57 PM
It's been a minute since we awarded Bernadette Seacrest best vocalist in our 2007 Best of Atlanta issue.
But apparently, ain't a damn thang changed. In her debut video — meaning, this is her first real music video and not just a recording of a live stage performance — the Atlanta-based swing noir singer comes off like one spicy milf. (Actually, scratch that, I don't even know if she's a mom.) Directed by Ramsey D. Yount (with Jon Milavec pitching in on cinematography), the video for "Where Does It Hurt" captures Seacrest's seductive, haunting vocal delivery in a visual statement that makes her tatted-up sass and humor the star of the show.
Yeah, I'm in love.
And songwriter/guitarist/collaborator Charles Williams' lyrical treatment burns a happy hole in my heart. If you're not familiar with Seacrest, her story is as amazing as her, well, everything else: Check out Chad Rad's two-year-old feature on Seacrest and Her Provocateurs 2010 release The Filthy South Sessions.
On the Download DTP's Rudy Currence drops Digital Analog mixtape
Posted by Carlton Hargro on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 2:07 PM
You gotta give it up to the folks over at Disturbing Tha Peace.
Although Ludacris’ famed label is known mainly for pumping out hip-hop music, DTP has been responsible for getting some quality R&B joints out to the listening public. Case in point: singer/songwriter/musician Rudy Currence.
A native of South Carolina, Currence signed up with the label a little more than two years ago; in that time, he’s lent his gospel-inspired vocal abilities to a holiday album (Last Christmas), a cut by Quincy Jones featuring Ludacris and the group Naturally 7 (“Soul Bossa Nostra”) and more.
Currence’s latest release is the mixtape Digital Analog, which includes the DJ Don Cannon-produced, hip-hop/soul flavored cut “The Other O.T.H.E.R.” (see video below) and 10 other tracks.
Wanna hear it? Well, then go ahead and download it for free.
Music news / randomania Tracklist: The Disney Joy Division t-shirt has left the Magic Kingdom
Posted by Spencer Sloan on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 11:01 AM
>> Tokyo Jihen is over. Long live Shiina Ringo.
>> SADKFJHLKJSHDFOMG NEW(OLD) ABBA!!!
>> AV Club talks to Hold Steadyman Craig Finn.
>> Cocaine is a helluva drug, Whitney Houston.
>> The Red Hot Chili Peppers went and made another one of those music video things.
>> NY mag: "Born to Die is a lot like watching the movie Showgirls."
>> Disney World joyless, once more.
>> Jordin Sparks and Jason Derulo officially sitting in a tree.
>> Watch the Queen Diva of Bounce Music Big Freedia do "Excuse," and "Na Who Mad" on Kimmel.
>> Off Future is coming to Atlanta.
>> Rihanna and Chris Brown are in high school forever.
>> Ciara to "act" in Adam Sandler "garbage."
>> Tennis has a tumblr.
On the Download / New Music Alley Boy wants in, Debo-style
Posted by Branden Roane on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 10:52 AM
Atlanta MC Alley Boy has been steadily making a name for himself on the underground mixtape circuit for a couple of years. You may have heard him on "Rob Me A N*gga" off of Freddie Gibbs's Cold Day in Hell in addition to tracks by Trouble, Juicy J, Slim Dunkin (R.I.P.) and Waka Flocka. He's primed to make a name for himself with the release of his newest mixtape, Nigganati (#NoTypo), which is set to be released today on LiveMixTapes.com.
On leaked single, "I Want In," it seems as if the Duct Tape MC intends to Debo his way into the fold of Atlanta's hip-hop elite — whether they like it or not. With a couple of thinly veiled darts sent at T.I. and Young Jeezy, Alley Boy is pretty much ensuring that he'll soon be the talk of the town.
Alley Boy, "I Want In"
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
New Music Stream Of Montreal's new record
Posted by Gabe Vodicka on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 6:56 PM
A couple months ago, Athens psych-pop overlords/noted costume enthusiasts Of Montreal unveiled the first single from their upcoming studio release, the sure-to-be-inscrutable Paralytic Stalks. Today, SPIN hosts a "First Spin" for that record, complete with a full album stream and deliciously overworked analysis of each song from Kevin Barnes himself.
As CL's Chad Radford noted last month, Paralytic Stalks seems a more darkly perplexing outing from these guys than we've heard in maybe ever. (And that's saying something, given Barnes' manic depressive musical history.) The songs veer wildly from the familiar Bowie-funk that's characterized recent Of Montreal to some sort of blown out Flaming Lips style bad-acid rock vibe and way beyond.
Like all Barnes' records, Paralytic Stalks is dense and deeply considered; more than the others, though, it seems a true amalgam of the band's history. There is respective attention paid to the early jangle-pop that put the band on the map, the darkwave synth of its later days and, as suggested above, hints of some new flavors as well. It's weird! And good!
Paralytic Stallks emerges in physical form on February 7 via Polyvinyl. Grab dat.
New Music Lee Harvey Oswald has crafted a Garbage Opera
Posted by Chad Radford on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 11:00 AM
50,000 records
2 Technics turntables
1 Rane mixer
Ableton Live
2 computers
Pro Tools
1 MPC 2500
… And some haunting turntablism.
Conspiracy and Spytek are DJing the Leftfield Experiment tonight (Jan. 25) at 529.
VIDEO All the Saints' 'Half Red, Half Way' video is all '90s
Posted by Chad Radford on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 10:25 AM
All the Saints unveiled a new video for an older song called "Half Red, Half Way" last weekend — all of their songs are about two years old at this point.” It’s been a while since we’ve heard any noise from the trio of Matt Lambert (voice, guitar), Titus Brown (bass), and Jim Crook (drums). This song is just a sample of what’s to come with the album Intro To Fractions, out in the UK on Jan. 30 via Souterrain Transmissions Records (a subsidiary of City Slang), and it's a psychedelic swan dive into squelching textures of feedback, and shifting rhythms that no one can pull off quite like these three dudes. Think Beastie Boys' "So What'cha Want" video meets the Smashing Pumpkins' "Rhinoceros" and you're at the right party.
Intro to Fractions is the same fabled record that was to be released on Touch & Go back before they tapped out in 2009. For the time being, it's a UK-only release, but I suspect it will show up stateside soon enough.
For now, All the Saints are playing two shows this year, once in June (date and venue are TBA), and again on Dec. 21, 2012 at the Earl.— humanity's last day on earth.
