Hey guys, we’re spending the next couple of hours upgrading our blogging equipment, so comments posted during this time may be wiped out by Tuesday AM. Please don’t worry! We’re not worried. All will be fine in the morning. Also, why are you awake?
Something about 57 people alone in their rooms singing in front of their laptops really sucks the energy out of “We Are The World,” but we can all agree that everyone’s hearts were definitely in the right place. Probably. “Thanks?” — Haiti.
A group of high school kids from Midland, TX have made the single most awesome music video you’ll see all day. They called the upload “Awesome Music Video,” and it is so awesome. Especially the guitar solo.
A big week for Broken Social Scene fans: First you found medicine in “World Sick” and now, as we once mentioned in a footnote to an editorial, Feist performed a one-off at the Orpheum in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The set included a new one, “He Was Free.” As a pre-teen she performed as a dancer in the opening ceremonies for the ‘88 Calgary Winter Games. This is a more stripped-down showing because it’s not 1988. The camera operator has a few tilt issues, but the Uta Barth framing doesn’t mess with the sound.
Continue reading Feist - “He Was Free” (Live At 2010 Cultural Olympiad)…
Our first couple days in Oslo were all about wandering and seeing as much as possible, but Friday involved staying put in a single venue for most of the night. The festival organizers asked us to curate a showcase of Nordic bands: We made a general wish list and it was narrowed down a couple of times, etc. The end results were hosted at Stratos, a club on the top floor of a tall building/mall, Youngstorget. The space included an outdoor balcony with an excellent view of the city: It was cold, but the view was good enough that even non-smokers made their way onto it throughout the night. Outside of curating, they’d also asked us to DJ. I threw together a set that moved between extreme metal and pop. An example: Cobalt to Dum Dum Girls to Burzum to Velocity Girl to Beherit to jj to Alcest to Fuck Buttons to Hooded Menace. Then there were the actual bands.
NAME: Marnie Stern
PROGRESS REPORT: Waiting for the release of her third full-length album, recorded at Retrofit Recording in Sacramento, CA. Knitting.
Marnie Stern’s knitting is an important part of the progress report, because right now she really can’t think of much else to do. The followup to the excellent This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That was completed in December and is ready for mixing. And it feels too soon to start a new record, yet her next one still has a few months (August or September, she thinks) before it’ll be released. Stern says she doesn’t like to go for walks in the city. She hates the cold, and only goes out about once a month “for like five drinks then I pass out in a cab.” Her boyfriend lives in Calgary. She’s not very internet savvy. So for now she stays inside, knits, plays guitar, and hangs out with her dog. “My mom calls us Grey Gardens! We’re just in the bed all day long,” she says.
Continue reading Progress Report: Marnie Stern…
With this cover of “The End Of The World,” Bay Area janglers Girls nearly make beloved country-pop songstress Skeeter Davis a trending topic. Their Skeeter spin is the second of its kind from a high profile act of late, the other logged in the tracklist of She & Him’s forthcoming Vol. 2 (that’d be “Gonna Get Along Without You’”). Girls chose the very best (or at least, the most notable) Skeeter song for their purposes, here, and there’s no surprise that takiing on Skeeter’s vulnerable, world-weary vocal suits Chris just fine.
Continue reading Girls - “The End Of The World” (Skeeter Davis Cover)…
Thurston blogs(!): “kim and i will be recording a trio LP w/ yoko this year, with blindfolds.” Fun news, especially on the back of this unforgettable radness.
Scott and I arrived in Oslo early Wednesday morning, which gave us plenty of time to stave-off jet lag, get our bearings, and check email before venturing full-on into by:Larm 2010. If you’re unfamiliar with the festival, it’s an annual event that brings together new, familiar, etc., Nordic bands for three days/nights of shows, panels, and the like. (I attended the one in the more northerly and icy city of Trondheim, Norway a couple years ago.) As I told someone yesterday who asked for my two cents: by:Larm’s exciting because it involves some actual discovery. It’s not often you can go to a festival these days without already knowing the story and music behind every name in the lineup. So here’s to ignoring Google for a few days…
Continue reading Stereogum v by:Larm 2010 Pt. 1: Land Of Confusion, Snow…
Think Ghostface turned RZA on to Vampire Weekend? Probably. According to Anthem Magazine (via P4K), who talked to co-director Emmett Malloy (younger brother Brendan also directs), Ezra Koening came up with the “Giving Up The Gun” video’s tennis match concept on his own. RZA plays ref, Lil Jon is a tennis coach, and Gyllenhaal and Jonas are competitors. Malloy mentioned that band friend “Jenny,” who looks like the same Jenny from their “Oxford Comma” video, stars. The Malloys also have White Stripes and Oasis documentaries under their belts, as well as videos for the Jonas Brothers and Cold War Kids. Keep eyes peeled for this one tomorrow. Nice photo, dudes.
