Death + Taxes Magazine

Friday, June 12, 2009Stop! HAMMER TIME!

Well, I thought this clip was really funny until I realized it was a promotional stunt for MC Hammer's new show. Actually, it's still pretty funny. Enjoy the weekend! Hammer's series premieres this Sunday, June 14th, at 10 PM. -IL

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Best CD We Got In The Mail Today

Very few singers get away with being pitchy. Lord knows that didn't stop all the early emo bands. And though Scotland's We Were Promised Jetpacks sound like they're of the same ilk, their Wikipedia page doesn't confirm they are fans of Braid or Jawbreaker. It does, however, mention that their first show was performing at their school's Battle of the Bands ...which they won by the way. Regardless, WWPJ's Fat Cat Records debut These Four Walls is better than anything post-grunge singer Adam Thompson's voice will remind you of. Highlights include, single "Quiet Little Voices" and "Keeping Warm," which references the album's title after a dramatic four-minute long crescendo, replete with horns, chimes, jangly guitars and enough cymbol splashes to wake the neighbors. Click here to watch the video for "Quiet Little Voices" and look for These Four Walls next Tuesday. -IL

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Music Video: Animal Collective "Summertime Clothes"

Here's the latest video from Animal Collective. "Summertime Clothes" is off Merriweather Post Pavillion, which, as everyone knows, is out now. -IL

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Andrew W.K. Gets TV Show

When was the last time Andrew W.K. put out a record? (Actually, last year he released an album consisting of Japanese cover songs). I'm not sure if he's put music behind him, but the rock singer definitely has a new gig ...W.K. is hosting a show for the Cartoon Network called Destroy Build Destroy. Sounds like he got to name the show as well. Watch a preview below -- it's good to know he still dresses in white. -IL

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Thursday, June 11, 2009Former Shins Member Now Cook

I just drooled on myself watching this video. Former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval is now a street cart proprietor. He serves authentic New Mexican cuisine (who knew this even existed). Watch the video to learn more and yeah, try not to drool on yourself. -IL

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L.A.'s Division Day Sign To Dangerbird Prep Album

Los Angeles favorites Division Day just announced their signing to Dangerbird Records. Their new album Visitation will be released on August 18th. You can stream two songs off the record here. Darker and dreamier. We're looking forward to it! -IL

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Music Video: Dinosaur Jr. "Over It"

It's official. Dinosaur Jr. still shred. Peep the video below for evidence. The song "Over It" is off the groups latest album Farm, which will be released June 23rd in the U.S. -IL

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Wednesday, June 10, 2009Cantora Showcase This Friday

This Friday, June 12th, Cantora Records (and D+T) presents The Willowz, Savoir Adore, Acrylics and Your Nature at the Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn. Cantora put together a digital sampler to get you suckers amped on the show. Click here to download it. Tracklisting is below. -IL

Tracklisting:
The Willowz: "Everyone" from their upcoming album Everyone
Savoir Adore "Bodies" from their upcoming album In The Wooded Forest
Acrylics "Molly's Vertigo"
Your Nature "Triangle Eyes"

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The Fiery Furnaces at Le Poisson Rouge Tomorrow

The Fiery Furnaces will be playing tomorrow night at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. They'll be performing songs off the forthcoming I'm Going Away (out July 21) as well as debuting a chamber pop ensemble piece Matt Friedberger wrote especially for the show, which starts at 7 pm. -IL

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How Do You Feel About Ballet?

If you are interested in ballet and love the music of The Rosebuds, Arcade Fire, Caribou, Destroyer, the Magnetic Fields, Polvo, Richard Buckner, Spaceheads, and Spoon, allow me to introduce you to an event that will make you wet your pants. In about a month (July 18th) the Triangle Youth Ballet will bring Merge with Motion to the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. MWM features a dance performance set to music by Merge Artists (the bands listed above). The Rosebuds will also perform a live set. -IL

Merge with Motion
Saturday, July 18, 2009, 7:30pm
The Carolina Theatre, Fletcher Hall
309 W. Morgan Street
Durham, NC

$15/$17 Advance
$21 Day of show

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Tuesday, June 9, 2009Music Video: Coconut Records "Microphone"

This is off Jason Schwartzman's (aka Coconut Records) second album Davy. Watch to see what his dog dreams about. -IL

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Monday, June 8, 2009ATTENTION NYC

Come check out Cantora Records' showcase this Friday. Yeah, that's our snazzy logo on the bottom. What up? -IL

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Book Review: Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy

With Pygmy, Chuck Palahniuk stakes out territory as a first-rate humorist. Stylistically, the novel is experimental and at times rather difficult to endure. Think Faulkner writing as a demented Chinese Pinko-Commie youth with a deadly killing stroke and a near constant erection. Chapters are written as dispatches in which the narrator, a young Chinese sleeper agent, relates his impressions of American capitalism, whilst dealing with every teenage boy's compulsion to plant his 'seed' (in both his host sister and in a local bully's anus, to name but a few). In one of Pygmy's many memorable lines, he judges his 'cat sister's' suitability for childbearing by observing, "pelvis function easily to accept seed, then alternate issue constant offspring." Pygmy's efforts in translation yield highly surrealistic prose. Breton would likely have held the novel in great esteem. Credit must go to Palahniuk for imagining such an oddly endearing style for such a highly amoral character.

Is Pygmy a born sociopath, whose qualities have merely been cultivated by Chinese officials? Or is he a total product of a government whose sole purpose is power--economic, political and otherwise? Either way, Pygmy's ruminations on labyrinthine shopping malls and the various ways he could eviscerate his enemies amount to high comedic art. As when the narrator's fellow operative, his crush 'Magda,' is baptized, Pygmy matter-of-factly explains how it could be 'bam-chop, could be jump, Magda tuck legs, Leaping Kangaroo Punch Escape, pulverize sternum of worship man, leap free of bin water and retreat.' Never has a narrator been so blatantly disgusting since Patrick Bateman. And never, to my knowledge, has a character been such a lovably sadistic vessel for barbaric sex and destruction.

But, the novel is, at its heart, a satire. Palahniuk takes aim at American conspicuous consumption and the Chinese citizen as a loyal communist instrument. And Kudos to Palahniuk for writing a scene in which a wad of US dollars is soaked in blood, cum, shit and urine.

As Pygmy quotes in one of his dispatches, in what seems to be a perversion of Thomas Jefferson's observation, "democracy must sometimes be bathed in blood." But, Pygmy is not programmed to refresh the tree of democracy with the blood of patriots--no, he comes on a Pale Horse to destroy it. The apocalypse of the American Dream has never been so entertaining, folks. - DJ Pangburn

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