Record Reviews

Moan

Amy Dupcak :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 4:15 pm

22-20s
Shake/Shiver/Moan
TBD Records

The British band 22-20s have deep roots in the blues, originally performing as a blues cover band before writing their own material.

They broke up in 2006 and then reformed two years later, now offering Shake/Shiver/Moan on TBD Records. The album is still dripping with the blues, but the opener “Heart on a String” also screams old-school punk with a gritty pop nature.

Everything about “Bitter Pills,” from the vocals to the drum beat, sounds drunk and weary, like a traveling musician hopping freight trains. And with songs like the title track, bearing a Doors meets Yardbirds demeanor, it’s hard to believe this album wasn’t recorded decades ago, and released only on vinyl.

Israeli Diplomats Protests Wages with Jeans and Sandals

Carmel Lobello :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 3:45 pm

Israeli diplomats have chosen a decidedly more peaceful way to protest injustice than their military colleagues. As part of their effort to demand wages on par with their defense and intelligence peers, they’ve started wearing jeans and sandals to work. They’re also playing Phish’s “Bouncing Around the Room” really loud from their offices whenever President Shimon Peres is in the building.

Diplomat Zvi Mazel is threatening to add socks to the rebelious outfit if his wages aren’t increased by 15% before the end of July. In the middle of August, the socks, sandal, jean combination has the potential of being not only unsightly, but pretty smelly as well. MORE »

Restless People’s First Interview

Gray Hurlburt :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 3:30 pm

Though it spent a long time in the oven, over two years actually, Restless People is now wholly conceived and ready to release its first album on September 14 with IAMSOUND Records. This project is composed of Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm of Tanlines and two parts of Professor Murder, Michael Bell-Smith and Tony Plunkett. All combined under the new chapeau, Restless People sounds just like what you would want and expect to hear from the contributing bands, because it’s bigger in scope than either alone and positively ultra-vibrant. MORE »

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi: “Lara Logan, You Suck”

Colin Jones :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 2:54 pm

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi is pissed, and for all the right reasons. In a post on his Taibblog titled “Lara Logan, You Suck,” the hard-headed reporter slams the aforementioned CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent for criticizing fellow Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings and his reporting on the now-controversial McChrystal story. Logan has stated on CNN’s Reliable Sources that Hastings was wrong to mislead McChrystal and his staff regarding his intentions with the story. MORE »

Google: Still Fighting the Good Fight Against Chinese Censorship

Andrew Limbong :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 2:45 pm

Under the shadow of the Chinese government, Google has been cleverly circumventing the Internet censorship laws of the land. With the Chinese government calling Google’s ways of automatically redirecting users to its Hong Kong website “unacceptable” and their license up for review and renewal on Wednesday, it looked like the service would be exiting the country. But it looks like the sly search engine has found a way to appease the government and maintain its operation as an uncensored search engine for the Chinese people. MORE »

Wolf Parade: Expo 86

Nick Nicoludis :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 1:30 pm

Wolf Parade
Expo 86
Sub Pop

Expo 86 is Wolf Parade’s third full-length album, and it seems they’re still interested in the manic noise and bizarre song composition that garnered their popularity in the mid-2000’s.

The Canadian outfit, which consists of members from the Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown/Swan Lake/Frog Eyes, have hit their stride on their latest release. Their songwriting has evolved some, and they’ve created well-crafted tunes that lean towards indie-pop rather than rock. MORE »

Listen: The Thermals “I Don’t Believe You”

Colin Jones :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 1:15 pm

Portland punkers The Thermals recently announced that they will release a new album, Personal Life, on September 7 on Kill Rock Stars. This morning, The Thermals debuted the first single off of the new record, “I Don’t Believe You” and we have snagged an Mp3 that you can download here. The single will be released along with the B-side “There’s Nothing You Can’t Learn” on August 10 as a 7″ and a digital download. Enjoy this poppy, punky mess you kids.

Keep reading for Thermals tour dates and an download of “I Don’t Believe You.” MORE »

Faulkner Still Fighting Bin Laden (The Man in the Mirror)

Carmel Lobello :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 1:06 pm

Everybody, you can breathe a sigh of relief now. Al-Qaeda is taking a break from terrorism to focus solely on Gary Faulkner, the Colorado bin Laden hunter who was found near the Afgan boarder two weeks ago with a Samurai sword and a bible in his belt. Or so says Faulkner.

After appearing on the Tonight Show last night in a full beard and gray pony tail, and a grubby matching army green t-shirt and cargo pants, he took an interview with the NY Post, in which he exclaimed, “They want me as badly as I want them”. “They” meaning Al-Qaeda. After which he added, “You should have seen me — I looked just like the Taliban, an al Qaeda crazed murderer.” Funny place to use the past tense. Besides looking, grooming, and dressing like OBL, Faulkner and his game have a few things in common. MORE »

Watch: Holy Ghost! Remixes LCD Soundsystem

Andrew Limbong :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 11:45 am

Thanks to the folks over at [adult swim], Holy Ghost!’s remix of LCD Soundsystem’s “Drunk Girls” have got a pretty rad video. It’s an interesting take on the song, in that it has nothing to do with the song, which was apparently their intent. It’s crust punks, by way of Mad Max, jousting on bikes! MORE »

5 Ways Health Care Impacts Young Americans

Andrew Belonsky :: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 11:30 am

President Obama’s health care reform will soon up the insurance ante by unveiling a new website that compares health care rates for consumers. “It is important to have these steps in places to protect consumers from unjustifiable rate increases,” said the President yesterday. “In fact, many states are already exercising their review authority. We’re already seeing a wave of change that’s lifting up consumers and leveling the playing field.”

Yes, soon we’ll live in a nation where everyone, regardless of race, color or creed, has health care, bogus preexisting conditions are banished and cancer is a thing of the past. We will live in a world where, as Nancy Pelosi once put it, “people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk.” So what does health care reform mean for all of America’s hip young dreamers? Let’s take a look…. MORE »

Neutral Milk Hotel vs Phish

Andrew Limbong :: Monday, June 28th, 2010 6:50 pm

At a recent concert at the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Maryland, Phish was filmed covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” with hilarious results. If the original song was a sobering eulogy for a certain specific Holocaust victim, Phish’s version seems to be in commemoration of elevator music. The guitar solo at the end is particularly dicey, which is actually the one area Phish are supposed to excel at. Watch how Phish’s version stacks up against the original… MORE »

New Releases: September 14th is Music Day

Jasmine Belassie :: Monday, June 28th, 2010 6:45 pm

Countless musicians and bands have chosen September 14^th to release their new single or album. Among the releases on this particular date are; Brandon Flowers who releases his first solo album, Flamingo, and Of Montreal, whose album False Priest brings their discography into double digits.

No reason has been given for this clash of new releases but dates are certainly important for Flowers, who has long held a superstition that he knows the date of his own death.

Northside Festival: Islands

Colin Jones :: Monday, June 28th, 2010 6:30 pm

Islands reach back and pull out the best parts of eighties art pop while discarding the gaudy excess.

At their show at the Northside Festival this weekend, there was an air of Startdust-era Bowie or Marc Bolan. Their styled white suits and wrap-around sunglasses matched their substance—a fresh group of pop songs that had hips shaking. Kicking things off with the uptempo, shimmering single and title track of their new album, “Vapours,” the band proved that pop can be, and still is, relevant. MORE »

Tesla Motors IPO: The Electric Car’s New Lease On Life?

Carmel Lobello :: Monday, June 28th, 2010 6:00 pm

Tesla Motors is now less than a day away from its highly anticipated IPO. The company’s deeply broke founder, Elon Musk, has big ambitions for what to do with the earnings. High on the list are buying the Toyota’s Fremont California manufacturing plant, building a network of 50 Tesla stores world wide, finishing manufacturing on the Model S, and of course, bailing himself out after spending the last year or so couch surfing and borrowing cash from friends to get by. The estimated $244 Million in expected earnings will most likely not come close to meeting these goals. From here, Tesla Motors does not look like the white knight it did in 2003. It’s starting to look more like a big fat waste of cash and public optimism. MORE »

Lady Gaga joins the BP Boycott

Jasmine Belassie :: Monday, June 28th, 2010 5:45 pm

Musicians such as Megadeath, Slightly Stoopid and Anthrax are joining forces (coming soon to a Marvel comic near you) to form a BP boycott, and Lady Gaga is apparently leading the pack. MORE »