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From the Archives: Nick Cave: Hands Up, Who Wants to Die?
Remember this one? The interview with Nick Cave around the time that Grinderman was making waves? This is a story of a writer, of a fan, who was able to translate what it felt like to meet one of his musical idols onto the page, exposing both the difficulty and the elation of that experience. And of course, it’s a story about Nick Cave.
Read this teaser for a peek into the article:
Nick has had a reputation for being difficult during interviews. When asked what one of his songs is about, he sometimes avoids the topic and insults the interviewer. When asked about his personal life, he might give it up or insult you again. During one interview recorded during the documentary The Road to God Knows Where, Nick Cave was on a cell phone speaking to a journalist.
“Wha’?” he says and listens, “Uh, you ask the questions, I really, I’ve just been rung up and told to do an interview… so you ask the questions and I’ll answer them and we’ll have an interview.”
I made sure to have questions that would last two hours if things went at a quick pace because I never wanted him to say that to me; rather, I wouldn’t mind if my favorite singer said anything to me. I’d rather he think of me as a interviewer who does his research so well that he has a depth of knowledge and does this for all his interviews, and is not a gushing Nick Cave fan, even though I really am.
MGMT Unveil “Flash Delirium,” First Song From “Oracular Spectacular” Follow-Up
Like ‘em or not, you can’t argue that Brooklyn duo MGMT aren’t the architects of one of the five most anticipated new releases of the first half of 2010. The album (and its fantastically ridiculous cover) drops on April 13th and is the follow-up to their wildly successful breakthrough LP Oracular Spectacular. Today, the psych-dance outfit’s hoards of fans got what they have been clamoring for—a first real taste of Congratulations—in the form of the eclectic “Flash Delirium.”While those who are fans of their more streamlined dance tracks —”Electric Feel” and “Kids” especially—may be turned off, to my ears, the track fits right in with some of the group’s best work. Tracks like “Weekend Wars” and “The Youth” feature the same type of Beatles-esque light psychedelia and Zombies harmonies that form the triumphant second half and lush crescendo of this sneaky catchy single.
Will it lead to the rampant, awkward, cutoffs-on-skinny-jean grinding that “Electric Feel” did? Probably not. Can I imagine it sparking a boozy, American Apparel-sponsored sing-along at next year’s Bonn-chella-palooza? Absolutely.
Hear the song and download the mp3 after the jump.
Album Review: Broken Bells, Broken Bells
Broken Bells
Broken Bells
(Columbia, 2010)There’s a moment of déjà vu in the bridge of Broken Bells’ “Your Head Is on Fire” where an airy synth pad floats in an exciting direction I can only describe to the non-instrument-playing crowd as a two-parter. An inviting, slight melody calls and waits for what would be a clever minor-key response, and it never comes. But why should I expect it to, who put that idea in my head? The answer actually, is James Mercer, who happens to be the man behind Broken Bells. (Well, the man in front—the man behind is erstwhile melody softener Danger Mouse—but we’ll get to him later.) Once it hits me that Mercer is repeating himself, that I experienced that same half-melody the first time I heard the Shins’ (his other band, they changed your life, remember?) “Saint Simon” seven years ago, I got kind of mad. Not for copying himself—the man’s a pop genius whose arsenal of clever chord changes borders on distended, no wonder he’s run out—but for Xeroxing a rather faded, incomplete version of himself. The same thing happened when I put on Broken Bells and the drifting funk of “The High Road” recalled not just the Shins’ not-great experiment “Sea Legs”, but a ballad off Chinese Democracy as well.
New perfectionists like Mercer appear to have trouble breaking the mold of “perfect pop.” After two flawless efforts, Mercer’s own troubled Wincing the Night Away wielded three great songs (“Australia”, “Phantom Limb”, and “Girl Sailor”) and a lot of halfsies. Suddenly when the perfection runs out they appear to question if there’s any point to making songs at all. Then they meet texture.
Will Pandora Go Public and Become the New Old Radio?
[via NY Times] How does an internet radio station that was at death’s door for almost 10 years (in part, due to the tedious task of finding investors and royalty battles with record labels) punch through the music industry’s walls to end up succeeding with the potential to go public? Seems like a relevant question for almost anyone trying to start something up in the world of online music, with many being relegated to the graveyard. For answers, it appears we need to look no further than the founder of Tim Westergren of Pandora.Much of Pandora’s recent resuscitation has come in the form of a very successful iPhone app. At the end of last year, they reported their first profitable quarter. And they’re now getting interest from investment bankers who are predicting the company could go public. Pandora’s aim going forward? To attain deals with makers of cars, televisions, and stereos, prospecting to make the internet radio station as universal as terrestrial radio, ahem, was. It seems their recent success is due in large part to nothing revolutionary, but sheer persistence; from years of not being able to pay their employees to weathering the dot-com bust, they’ve endured through it all. read more
Pink Floyd and EMI are Fighting Over Royalties
[Via Wired and Business Week]Pink Floyd is suing EMI because the label is allowing the band’s songs to be sold as singles via iTunes. The band claims that their contract with EMI qualifies that their catalog be sold as whole albums, as is essential to the seamless nature of much of their music. Their lawyer, Robert Howe, says: “It’s a matter of fact that the defendant has been permitting individual tracks to be downloaded online and that therefore they have been allowing albums not to be sold in their original configuration.”
Many band contracts were signed before the dawn of the internet age, which today causes a disconnect between band and label, when digital music sales are such a prominent part of proceeds. Pink Floyd’s last contract was signed in 1999, before iTunes was operating, and now they want to clarify the terms. Let’s just wait and see what happens.
Billy Corgan Is Hiring (Long Hours, No Bennies)
You know, people are always dogging Billy Corgan for continually trying to squeeze millimeters of blood from the dried-up stone that is the Smashing Pumpkins, but look at it this way: the guy has created more jobs in the past five years than any major American auto company. Heck, if it weren’t for ol’ Cueball, that Mike Byrne kid would probably still be drifting aimlessly through Beaverton, OR, giving drum lessons for beer money and playing Nintendo Wii all night. Am I right, unemployed drummers of the greater Beaverton area?Today, CEO Corgan issued a press release announcing two brand new openings in the Smashing Pumpkins organization. Billy is looking for a new bass player and keyboardist to help him achieve his musical vision for 2010 and beyond. Interested applicants are encouraged to send a brief résumé and mandatory video clip to either pumpkinsbass@gmail.com or pumpkinskeys@gmail.com. Keyboardists, be advised: you must be into Rick Wakeman-style wankery and have no issue playing similar-sounding material.
So, I guess this means something something something JESSICA SIMPSON??? ROFLCOPTER! Oh, these jokes literally write themselves. Blah blah blah Pisces Iscariot blah blah blah Courtney Love blah blah blah Homerpalooza. The world is a vampire!
Opening the Book
Being a musician is not the noblest of pursuits. It’s not a career path by any stretch of the imagination—more of a career escape plan than anything else. Why, if Holden Caulfield picked up a goddamn guitar half way through The Catcher in the Rye, he would have beaten both Nirvana and the Clash to the punch. My next sentence was going to be something like, “and then maybe John Lennon would never have been murdered.” But that is probably bullshit. Lennon’s murderer would merely have had some other book in his pocket when he pulled the trigger, killing much more than a husband and a father. The book could have just as easily been Lord of the fucking Rings if it would fit in a pocket. Or Goodnight Moon.
But it was The Catcher in the Rye, which has since become a memento reminding us of the murder of one of the great songwriters in all of rock ‘n’ roll. One of the architects of rock music, working class heroes, and revolution through art. I fucking hate that.
It’s just a book.
Had J.D. Salinger not been such a devout and angry recluse, clinging to his art in a way that is just unheard of in today’s 360 deal world, the book would have a lot less mystique behind it. Mystique is what makes something seem greater than it really is. I don’t watch television hardly ever, yet I had to stop listening to the Who’s Next, once one of my favorite Who albums, because now it sounds like a bunch of teasers for CBS. The mystique of those songs is gone for me now, sold off to pay the fucking bills. How sad is that? Or is that just me romanticizing some moment when those songs saved me or made me pump my fist or shotgun a tall boy with a mouth full of reefer smoke? I don’t own those songs. They are not mine, never were, never will be. They’re just chords and words and Keith Moon bashing away, right? Why should I give a damn what Pete Townshend does with them? They’re his songs, sell them to Glenn Beck for all I should care.
Amy Annelle’s Seventh Album Coming This Summer
There is greatness living, walking and dreaming among us, people! Austin-by-way-of-everywhere troubadour Amy Annelle has finished work on her seventh album, Cimarron Banks, and has slated its release for sometime this summer. Either under her own name or as the backbone of a permeable folk/rock ensemble called The Places, Annelle has been unfurling her consistently passionate and spectral acoustic marrow for over a decade, and though she wins praise from every heart punctured by the ether-tipped jags of the storm-felled trees that are her songs, we end to think the world can do better. And this summer (”For now we can say late May/early June,” she has reported via email) the world will get its next chance.According the website of her own record label, High Plains Sigh, the new album “features very special guest Ian McLagan (Small Faces, Bob Dylan) and longtime musical ally Paul Brainard (Victoria Williams, Alejandro Escovedo), as well as new friends from Austin’s vibrant music community.” The site is well worth checking out, by the way, as it also houses some gorgeous photography shot by the songstress on tour and on wanderings amid desolate, broken-down stretches of the great American expanse.
Annelle will be touring the US and beyond in support of the album’s release. In the past, she has lent her talents to back up such diverse and shadowy greats as Jandek, Michael Hurley, Roy Harper and R. Stevie Moore, and in the future, who knows? One thing’s relatively certain, though, which is that her own original graces will no longer be obscured by the group moniker. “the places handle has been retired” she writes. “this is an amy annelle album.”
The Places are dead. Long Live Amy Annelle! Video of her performing a new album song after the jump…
Watch Ted Leo & the Pharmacists Perform for Jimmy Fallon
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, Ted Leo’s new album The Brutalist Bricks is kicking ass. And here he is with the Pharmacists performing “The Mighty Sparrow” last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, also kicking ass. Ass kickery all around.
A2IM to FCC: Net Neutrality Now!
by: Howard Wyman
The open letter substantiates its position with some strong facts and stats, and is well worth a look-see for those keeping up with the issue. Hypebot posted the statement in its entirety, although you can also find the statement and a wealth of other information on A2IM’s own site.
by: Howard Wyman
published: March 9, 2010
in column: The Smoke-Filled Room, Uncategorized, What Goes On
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