According to whitestripes.com, the drummer wed musician Jackson Smith (son of Patti and Fred “Sonic”) — while Raconteur/Dead Weather bassist Jack Lawrence married his fiancee Jo McCaughey — in a double wedding in Jack White’s backyard. Mazel Tov everybody.
As with any supergroupy assemblage of rock stars, Jack White and Alison Mossheart et al’s Dead Weather get the benefit of automatic headline status. But along with the instant attention comes the heightened is-it-more-about-the-sum-or-the-parts scrutiny. Their Bowery show seemed to thrill most, but mostly for the combustion of White and Mossheart’s oversized charisma. As for the music itself: try your ears on the whiplashing “Treat Me Like Your Mother.” It’s a stock rocking Jack riff, some snarls from Alison, some clumsy but obligatory lead vocal trade-offs, with the climax ostensibly coming via some punning on the word “manipulate.” They’re all playing like they mean it, but there isn’t much meaning to what they’re playing. Chalk this one up to being more interesting for the associated tag set than the song it produced.
Continue reading New Dead Weather - “Treat Me Like Your Mother”…
This summer Jesy Fortino, aka Seattle’s Tiny Vipers, is releasing her second Sub Pop full length, the Andrew Hernandez-produced Life on Earth. 2007’s Hands Across the Void remains sadly underrated, or at least underexposed. Maybe Life will bring her some deserved column space? So far so good. The gorgeous lead track “Dreamer” includes all the best Tiny Vipers hallmarks: Fortino’s shape-shifting vocals, her elliptical and affecting lyricism, and the spacious, meandering, and incantatory song structures. Imagine a female, Pacific Northwest David Thomas Broughton. (If he ever comes out of hiding, the two should join forces.) Anyhow, wish it was endless.
Continue reading New Tiny Vipers - “Dreamer”…
Tom Waits and Cure coverer Scarlett Johansson took on Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye” for He’s Just Not That Into You, but she was lying: She’s marching forward with the music career. This time she’s teamed with Pete Yorn to release a Sunny Levine-produced collection of duets called Break Up. It features eight Yorn originals and a cover of Big Star’s “I Am The Cosmos.” The idea for Break Up, inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s 1960s recordings with Brigitte Bardot, reportedly came to Yorn in a dream. I bet. As you can see in the album art, they took his dream very seriously. Once you listen to the lead single “Relator” at the official album site (via USA Today) you may note that they also took She & Him very seriously.
Break Up is out 9/8 via Atco/Rhino.
In the wake of escalating atrocities in the Tamil/Sinhalese civil war in Sri Lanka, Maya met Maher on Friday night to explain her people’s plight to Bill’s Real Time audience. (She’s the one labeled “Tamil Rapper.”) There’s a quick octo-mom joke with respect to M.I.A.’s very-pregnant Rap Pack Grammy performance, otherwise she’s cast strictly as rebel ambassador. Maher has Maya step back and contextualize the conflict for his audience repeatedly in case they haven’t been keeping up with her blog, where she’s been detailing the issues surrounding recent civilian killings and the state-controlled flow of information. Watch:
Continue reading Bill Maher Interviews M.I.A….
“A Wuggie is basically exactly like a Snuggie, except it says Weezer on it,” Rivers tells Rolling Stone. But it appears they’re sporting plain ol’ Snuggies in their Blink-182 tour announcement.
The singer/Beck collaborator took Cannes’ top honors for Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, which “provoked fainting, gasps and walk-outs with its shots of a clitoris being sliced off with rusty scissors and male genitals smashed with a plank.” Watch the trailer.
Folks have seemingly taken to Los Angeles quartet Silversun Pickups’ “Panic Switch.” Actually, judging from the positive comments when we posted a link to a stream of their second album Swoon, your love of early ’90s Smashing Pumpkins-style alterna-rock runs deep. The last time we saw the band they were at the Glass House in Pomona. This time they’ve stopped by Spinner to offer up a private studio show. We have the old favorite “Panic Switch” along with fellow Swoon song “The Royal We.”
Continue reading Silversun Pickups Flip The “Panic Switch” At Spinner…
Craig Finn shared vocals with former Arab Strap guitarist Malcolm Middleton on ’80s rock radio staple “Run To You” (along with Led Zeppelin’s “Your Time Is Gonna Come” and Malcolm’s own “Kiss At The Station”) in a recent live session on BBC Radio 1. The occasion was a celebratory send-off for DJ Colin Murray. Between this and Bon Iver’s “Your Love” we have the makings of a sweet Indie Rockers Cover 1985 playlist.
Continue reading The Hold Steady Cover Bryan Adams…
When writing on Dum Dum Girls in the past, I’ve mentioned the Mayfair Set, her best-of-two-worlds collaborative project with the recently unmasked Blank Dogs. It’s good stuff and thankfully there’s more of it: A six-song Woodsist 12″ from the duo is forthcoming. You can hear two of the tracks — “Cease To Be” and “Junked” — at their MySpace (Via GvsB). And, because we didn’t post it previously, take a listen to “Already Warm,” the A-Side of the band’s 7″ out now on Mike “Blank Dogs” Sniper’s Captured Tracks label. (To date they’re promo photos are mostly little vintage kids, hence the accompanying pic.)
Continue reading New Mayfair Set - “Cease To Be” & “Junked”…
