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Devendra Banhart and Fab Moretti Form Band, and Other News
Devendra Banhart, the ever-shifting musical presence that’s gone from Vetiver, to Rejoicing in the Hands, to Natalie Portman, to Megapuss, has announced yet another new project, this one called Permanent Adventure with Strokes drummer Fab Moretti on board (who also drummed with Megapuss). Of the project, Banhart said, “We wear helmets, and we have contact mics on the helmets. And we run at each other, and that’s the percussive element.” Obviously, he’s just being silly… but what a great visual. (Pitchfork)
Thom Yorke takes it upon himself to figure out what the hell’s been going on at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. (Daily Swarm)
Rage Against the Machine let the profanities fly on BBC, upsetting the presenter and forcing the station to publicly apologize to its listeners. (Spinner)
Pandora has just reached 40 millions registered users, and subsequently attracted more advertising dollars. (Hypebot)
Courtney Love lost custody of Frances Bean, and then Frances Bean in return filed a restraining order against her mother. Yikes. (Spinner)
Despite the members’ plenty busy side projects, Wolf Parade has a new album coming out in 2010. (Paste)
Lady Gagas’ tour open, Kid Cudi, is ditching the rest of their tour, citing a busy schedule. But then he announced his own tour dates that roughly match the dates of the joint tour. Huh. Apparently, he got a wallet thrown at him onstage in Vancouver, and ended up punching some dude in the audience. (Pitchfork)
Read more news after the jump.
Weezer Cancels Tour After Bus Crash, and Other News
After a bus crash in upstate New York on Sunday in which Rivers Cuomo suffered moderate injuries, Weezer has canceled their December tour. The bus, which also contained Rivers’ wife and two-year-old daughter, neither of whom were hurt, skid on a patch of ice on a freeway. Weezer, who just released Raditude this past fall, was set to tour the Northeast this month, hitting Boston, DC, and Camden. It has not been announced whether the concerts will be rescheduled. (Reuters)
Apple has acquired LaLa, the music streaming service. Terms of the deal or plans for the acquisition have not yet been either decided, or released. (CNET)
The sultry chanteuse Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, is in the early stages of writing a new album of original material. (Paste)
Sigur Ros frontman Jón Thor Birgisson is releasing a solo album in 2010, with collaboration by Nico Muchly. You can download a free track here. (Strange Glue)
Bruce C. Allen, who played guitar for the Suburbs, as well as did graphic design for Twin/Tone records and the Replacements’ classic Let It Be album, will be taken off life support this evening after suffering from internal bleeding and organ failure. So sad. Rest in peace, Bruce. (City Pages)
A playlist from the Vatican’s MySpace page, compiled by Father Giulio Neron, includes songs by Tupac and Fleet Foxes. (Pitchfork)
Read more news after the jump.
Weezer: Raditude
Weezer
Raditude
(DGC/Interscope, 2009)
“And when I daydream / We’re eating ice cream!”
- Rivers Cuomo, “Put Me Back Together”
Who would have ever thought that one day we’d look back at the first two Weezer albums and say, “Hey, remember when those guys had some semblance of maturity?” Indeed, there was a time (over a decade ago!) when every corny sitcom and Green Day reference Weezer turned in was tempered with PG-13 subject matter like paternal alcoholism or the futility of the bachelor lifestyle. These days, S-E-X is a four letter word to Rivers Cuomo and his track suit-adorned posse, and they’re just as likely to reference Vitamin Water as booze when discussing a serious party. Any lingering doubts have been completely wiped out now; Raditude cements Weezer (median age 40) as America’s oldest tweens. At this point, even Hilary Duff has moved on past Titanic and Chiclets as lyrical subject matter.
Of course, following tripe like “Beverly Hills” and last year’s mind-bogglingly bad “Troublemaker”, no one expected the big W to suddenly start being adult again. It’s become too much fun, this sick game that goes on between Weezer and music fans—they dress their infectious rock melodies with as much stupid as possible, and the world raises their pitchforks and torches in anger. The court of popular opinion holds the Jonas Brothers-style kiddie rock in contempt? Then that is what Weezer shall aspire to be. Raditude is packed with slick ‘n’ vapid bouncers like “The Girl Got Hot” and “Let It All Hang Out” that sound like demos for the next Disney-sponsored teen sensation, toothless exercises painfully lacking the grunge guitar crunch that once made this band so tasty. Hell, Weezer even penned a song dedicated to the mall this time around, the ultimate setting for disposable pop heroes and heroines. Pinkerton just went from Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret to Apocalypse Now.
That’s not to say Cuomo has totally forgotten how to be supreme alterna-creep numero uno—he is, after all, exiting his 30s occasionally sporting the largest porn ’stache this side of John Holmes. Thus, a song like “I’m Your Daddy” boasting the lines “This ain’t impossible / This ain’t improbable” (wink, wink) should give any right-minded person a good case of the skeevies. “Can’t Stop Partying”, a Lady Gaga stab co-written by Kris Kross perpetrator Jermaine Dupri, is equally unnerving when Rivers desperately declares “I gotta have a lot of pretty girls around me.” “Partying” builds to a guest verse by Lil Wayne that has all the gusto and edge-of-your-seat excitement as your average episode of Two and a Half Men; surprisingly, this is not the most painful moment of Raditude. Nay, that would be the sitar Weezer inexplicably breaks out for “Love Is the Answer.” The sitar officially became the album equivalent of shouting “Free Bird!” at a packed concert years ago. Its presence is practically inexcusable.
There are touching moments on Raditude, such as the lovelorn, emo power ballad “Put Me Back Together” and the softer “I Don’t Want to Let You Go”, but no emotion here is strong enough to save the proceedings from sounding like a four-way collision between the J. Geils Band, Jimmy Eat World, John Oates, and J.C. Penney. Even last year’s sporadic Red Album offered more inspired fare, and that one had a song on it called “Everybody Get Dangerous.” Raditude is not the sound of a band on autopilot so much as it’s the sound of a band asleep at the big wheel, rolling down a steep hill with a warm Mountain Dew in one hand and Pixy Stix in the other. This was probably Weezer’s mission statement when they first hit record; as such, we cannot begrudge them. Irritating America is Weezer’s job. If we didn’t have them to rile us up by acting like brazen fools unaware of their “important musical legacy,” who would get our blood moving? Letters to Cleo? The Spin Doctors? Let’s face it: We’re stuck with Weezer until they’re too old and fat to seem remotely cute to anyone. Let’s just shut up and try to enjoy the ride.
P.S. Yes, I have contacted PETA regarding the cover of Raditude. No animal should ever be allowed to look that stupid in hopes of boosting record sales.
Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]
It’s Here: The Weezer Snuggie, or Wuggie
Here’s the deal with the Weezer Snuggie: If you buy their special Snuggie that is essentially just a regular Snuggie with the Weezer logo on it, you get a copy of their new album Ratitude, which also came out today. Both items for $29.99. I don’t know how to feel about this. These days, I think I’d much rather purchase a Snuggie than a Weezer record.
Awesomely enough, the press release stated this: “This latest addition to the Snuggie collection will allow fans of the band to stay warm while keeping their hands free to rock out.”
I understand. While rocking out, I like to throw on a little something to stay warm. Yeah, it’s called a hoodie. read more
Weezer
Weezer
Weezer (The Red Album)
(Geffen, 2008)
Weezer (The Red Album) is the third eponymous and sixth overall record for the band that has boasted one of the most distinct voices in rock since debuting in 1994 with Weezer (The Blue Album). Red finds these old dogs trying out a few new tricks—frontman Rivers Cuomo takes an occasional backseat, allowing his fellow band members to take on some of the band’s main roles (the best of which is drummer Pat Wilson singing “Automatic”)—and the whole shebang was overseen by superproducer Rick Rubin. Whether these new tricks work is another story.
Red’s first track, “Troublemaker”, leads off with an extremely familiar-sounding riff. Instantly it begs the question, Is it familiar just because it falls into the heavily-strummed Weezer signature style, or because it’s a dead ringer for the riff on Pinkerton’s “The Good Life?” It’s a painful question to ask of a band that has been seminal in the listening habits for many true rock appreciators, but the reasons behind it may be even more depressing than the question itself.
Ripping off their own riffs is the first in a series of acts of pop-music defiance included on Weezer (The Red Album). The album’s first single, “Pork and Beans”, which was reportedly written as a response to the label asking for a hit, even goes so far as to literally admit that the band is struggling with the expectations placed on them by fans and the industry alike. “Pork and Beans” includes scathing lyrics such as “I don’t give a hoot about what you think / Everyone likes to dance to a happy song / With a catchy chorus and beat so they can sing along” that bluntly express Cuomo’s disdain for the limitations of being in a successful band.
For Unlawful Cuomo Knowledge: Van Halen vs. Weezer
I think the biggest mistake my generation ever made, aside from casting aside funnyman Norm MacDonald once he was fired from Saturday Night Live, was believing from day one that Weezer was just kidding around about all those ’70s hard rock references. Oh, those jokers, we thought the first time we heard “In the Garage.” No 
way do they have KISS posters on their walls. It’s probably all Frank Black collages. We were similarly tickled when the Weezer logo was unveiled: a giant W that aped the famously flashy symbol of party metal gods Van Halen. Finally, Generation X had taken a direct shot at those Dutch assholes, and it felt so good. The Cobain spirit would live on thanks to these four plucky, underfed nerds who looked more like library volunteers than musicians. We praised the alterna-gods and looked forward to numerous years of classic rock mockery.
A decade later, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Weezer fan from way back when who isn’t infuriated by the trajectory their career has taken. The quirky little bubblegum grunge band behind such heart-on-the-sleeve anthems as “Say It Ain’t So” and “Tired of Sex” has become an arena-filling Top 40 machine, authoring vapid hits like “Beverly Hills” (the video of which was filmed at the friggin’ Playboy Mansion!) Shame on them for selling out? No, shame on us for not realizing the sickening truth much sooner. Weezer’s prime directive never had anything to do with earnest songwriting or anti-rock stardom. This slick, LA-born band wasn’t mocking Van Halen when they added those wings to their massive W; they did it because they wanted to be Van Halen. If you ask me, they came pretty damn close.
Ultimately, the confusion stems from those wacky, irony-drenched ’90s, in which every reference to any pre-1980 person, place, or thing could be construed as an eye-rolling poke to the ribs. The line was forever blurred when K.C. himself appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing that famous “Corporate Magazines Still Suck” t-shirt. The Janeane Garofalo mindset had officially taken over. Everything—from breakfast cereal to bowling to Bob Barker—was at least partially lame. That was 1994. We elected a President two years earlier in part because he played a crappy saxophone solo on a syndicated talk show hosted by the guy from Coming to America who wasn’t Eddie Murphy. I think that just about nails it. Thus, we couldn’t help but smirk when we saw pictures of Judas Priest in the Weezer CD booklet. Sure, guys. Livin’ after midnight. Guffaw.
The Eight Worst Albums of 2009
by: James Greene Jr.
The only way I could retain my status as Crawdaddy!’s resident iconoclast was by refusing to round this list up to 10. I’m sorry, kids, but JG2 just can’t play by your workaday rules. I only wear white after Labor Day, and I don’t go to 10 like all the other little sheeple. I’m sorry if that really irks your taters. I just can’t change who I am to be the cog in your machine. I rail against your staid, Gilmore Girls way of life every chance I get. Now enjoy this work I created in exchange for monetary compensation.
1. Weezer, Raditude
You knew this had to top the list. Bashing Weezer became our national pastime in the Aughts, but this was really the first release they gave us that was totally absent of the raw spark that made them so interesting and fun in the first place. Raditude is repackaged slurm from the wrong end of Cheap Trick’s gooch posited for the Sparks-guzzling Jersey Shore generation. Not buying it? Go listen to that song about riding escalators at the mall again and tell me you still respect Rivers Cuomo.
read more
by: James Greene Jr.
published: December 29, 2009
in column: Over a Beer
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