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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Comedy / International / Celeb / Fashion / Books / HAS-BEEN / Crap Kylie Minogue's Weird Fashion Book: Kylie Fashion

Posted by Emily Nokes on Wed, May 29, 2013 at 4:36 PM

I don't really know anything about fashion, but I know it when I see it... and a leather bikini and red jeans is not a fashion.

I don't think so.

Just literally say anything and we will put it on the back of this book.

Just literally say anything and we will put it on the back of this book.

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Monday, May 6, 2013

International / Song Ye'! Ye'! More Jacques Dutronc!

Posted by Mike Nipper on Mon, May 6, 2013 at 2:08 PM

I first wrote about Jacques Dutronc back in December—the post featured his stellar, and always in rotation at '60s clubs, "Le Responsable." Well, last week as I was sussin' out some French/Québécois EPs, I snagged a Dutronc EP I didn't already have. Besides the usual folky/pop dreck most '60s Euro EPs contain (even Dutronc's), it also features the track, "A la Queue les Yvelines;" a cool JD jam I'd never heard.

Um, this ain't ye'-ye' or trad folky French sing-a-long junk—"A la Queue les Yvelines" is heavy, pierced with blistering stabs of fuzz, AND syncopated. It's prolly as proggy as Dutronc would ever get; AND it's still danceable. The only other HEAVY JD jam I've heard is, perhaps, "L´augmentation." While still fantastique, it makes me wanna headbang, not move my dancin' feet!!

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

International / Album / Classic LITA Reissues Four Great '70s Albums by Marcos Valle

Posted by Dave Segal on Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 8:12 AM

Brazilian composer/musician Marcos Valle is a master of the orchestral pop that exudes a bronzed euphoria and a light yet substantial soulfulness. A surfer with long blond hair, Valle is the Brazilian counterpart to America’s Rotary Connection. The man could write the hell out of a heavenly arrangement.

On the four albums Seattle/LA label Light in the Attic is reissuing in January and February—Marcos Valle (1970), Garra (1971), Vento Sul (1972), and Previsão Do Tempo (1973)—Valle purveys a post-bossa, hybridized pop that can be sublimely ebullient or gloriously melancholy. His songs are hummable, but not in blatant ways. He’s an impeccable craftsman, kind of in the vein of Caetano Veloso in his more accessible modes, blending light psychedelia, soul, samba, and baião. Valle also sings the slyly subversive lyrics of his brother Paolo Sergio in a burnished baritone that’s somewhere between Veloso and Gilberto Gil. The delivery’s all about a restraint that’s innately seductive—a style that so many Brazilian artists have mastered.

Garra is my favorite of the quartet, but they’re all worth immersive listening. Valle was at his peak powers here, and these songs have a deathless quality; they stand up to repeated listens as well as anything in the David Axelrod or Charles Stepney canons. The eponymous Marcos Valle, recorded with the great baroque psych-prog band Som Imaginário, is probably the most instantly catchy collection of the four. Recorded with the rock group O Terço, Vento Sul is an incredibly subtle, baroquely beautiful work, elevated by gorgeous flute motifs by Paolo Guimarães. Previsão Do Tempo has a very suave, quasi-exotica vibe to it, and possesses a menagerie of eccentric textures and unpredictable, jazz-fusiony song structures.

Valle’s music is not as off the wall as that by Tropicalia’s oddest proponents like Os Mutantes or Tom Zé, and maybe that’s why underground-music heads haven’t really cottoned to it—or maybe Valle’s records were simply harder to find than those of his Brazilian counterparts. Whatever the case, LITA has gone a long way in getting some of Valle’s most important recordings back in circulation.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

International / Band Orcas in Contention for France's Qwartz Award

Posted by Dave Segal on Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 8:39 AM

Seattle pastoral, electronic duo Orcas have been nominated for a Qwartz Music Award in France for their serenely beautiful self-titled 2012 album on Morr Music. They're going up against works by Alva Noto, Andrew Pekler, former Seattle musician Filastine, and others. You can vote for Orcas—Rafael Anton Irisarri (the Sight Below) and Thomas Meluch (BenoÎt Pioulard)—here.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013

International / Drugs / Celeb / I'm Still a Virgin / Rick Springfield / Song / Dust Bin / History / #1 Fan RE: Is Coloured Balls' "That’s What Mama Said" Oz Rock's Zenith?

Posted by Mike Nipper on Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 2:13 PM

Yesterday Mr. Segal asked "What’s the greatest rock song by an Australian band?" His answer, obviously, was Coloured Balls' "That’s What Mama Said." I LOVE that song!! However, it's a tough call to pick the BEST Oz rock track, but I'm gonna TRY - my pick is Zoot's heavy sike jam "Strange Things." It's a bit of spring, 1968 released in 1970.

Also of note: The D-Coys "You're Against" and Robbie Peters' SLAYING of the Zombies' "She Does Everything For Me."

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

International / Song "Le Responsable" Is My Fave Dutronc Jam

Posted by Mike Nipper on Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 8:17 AM

My French is AWFUL, like I only know how to...French kiss (!!hubba hubba!!), ah oui' oui'!!! It's true. I have no idea if I'm any good tho'... ANYWAY, so Jacques Dutronc is well known the world over; however, I'm not sure if folks in the US care much. Um...for lack of a better comparison, please correct me if I'm wrong, but he was SORTA the male version of FranÇoise Hardy. He was a pop singer, for sure, but never had the "adult" nods other French vocalists were afforded. His entire '60s catalog is fantastic, tho'. Most of it is on EP, too, so FOUR songs per record...YEAH!! However, outta all his action, "Le Responsable" is TOPS!!

DAMN...this song rules. Everyone that knows it, loves it, and it always fills the dance floor. I could almost hear this playing at Emerald City Soul Club.

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Friday, November 16, 2012

International / Death / News / On Tour / #1 Fan Today's Music News: Heroin Diaries, Nirvana, and a Fiddler

Posted by Pamela Sternin on Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 11:31 AM

R.I.P.: Martin Fay, Fiddler for the Chieftains, has died.

Experience the Experience: A must-see Jimi Hendrix exhibit opens at EMP on November 17th. Still no word on mass stratocaster burning flash mob.

Broadway Nod's Off: Nikki Sixx plans to release The Heroin Diaries as a Broadway play in late 2013 or early 2014.

Free Mixtape: Geoff Rickly of Thursday has slapped together a few songs he recorded in his apartment with a few friends—download it for free here.

Nirvana On Tour!: ...via winter of 1989! Bruce Pavitt regales us in tails of Nirvana and Tad's Heavier Than Heaven European tour in his book Experiencing Nirvana. Chock-full of never-before-seen photos and more currently available as an eBook through iTunes.

Mile High Club: Rihanna seals day two of her 777 Tour. Definition of 777 Tour: 200 frenzied media professionals and professional Rihanna fans + One Rihanna + the worlds lamest carbon foot print.

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Monday, November 5, 2012

International / Love Chromatics' Small Hours Mixes of Unreleased Material From the Kill for Love Sessions

Posted by Grant Brissey on Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 11:59 AM

Every recording deserves a story this fitting:

Jet lagged & buzzing from Friday's show in Paris, I couldn't sleep...so I stayed up all night with Oko talking about color based dreams while blending these tracks together. Since the album came out, a lot of people on the road have been telling us they are curious to hear some of the unreleased music from the Kill For Love sessions...Recorded November 2009 through December 2011, these songs were all mixed between 4 & 6 a.m. After hours of tracking at the studio in Montreal, we'd clear the channels on the mixer, open a bottle of wine, & feel around in the dark...working our way through the atmospheric elements & peeling back layers of rhythm...throwing the songs into the abstract pile & playing them while driving home in the snow. In Amsterdam right now trying to upload it from the hotel. Fingers crossed...

Wrote Chromatics et al. member Johnny Jewel of Running from the Sun the stream you're likely listening to right now, and which was posted to Soundcloud about 16 hours ago and already boasts 10900 plays. It doesn't hurt that Jewel and the Chromatics have always demonstrated such a highly refined sense of mood and cinematics in their music—be it from the Chromatics' pre-Jewel days—Plaster Hounds and Chome Rats vs Basement Ruts—to their more recent work and side projects. Consider, for instance, Jewel's project Symmetry and their Themes for an Imaginary Film:

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

International / Legal / Teh Internets Pirate Bay Moves to the Clouds

Posted by Grant Brissey on Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 5:54 PM

Remember Pirate Bay? The outfit who got raided all the way back in 2006 for allegedly being in possession of technology that allows third parties to commit copyright infringement? They were before Wikileaks, before Megaupload. Today brings the news that Pirate Bay has moved its server capacity to the clouds, hosted on servers scattered around the world.

What does this mean? Basically, they're now claiming to be impervious to police raids, more of which have been rumored of late, as well as cloud-provider cut-offs, and bankruptcies. And it makes sense. Obviously, the rules differ with each border you cross. (In Japan, for instance, you can get up to two years for downloading and 10 for uploading, plus respective fines.), and, they told Torrent Freak, “If the police decide to raid us again there are no servers to take, just a transit router. If they follow the trail to the next country and find the load balancer, there is just a disk-less server there. In case they find out where the cloud provider is, all they can get are encrypted disk-images."

What's more, the hosting providers have no idea they're hosting TPB, as all communication with the users goes through a load balancer, which is a disk-less server with all of its configuration in RAM. Then that communication is encrypted, so "they can’t look at the content of user traffic or user’s IP-addresses," and that's going to make it a lot harder to track downloaders.

Meanwhile, TPB is planning a giant party in Stockholm for its 10th anniversary. Read the Facebook post after the jump.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

International / Band / News / Song / Politics Today's Music News: Reatard, Norweigan Surf, and Freedom!

Posted by Pamela Sternin on Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 12:44 PM

Calling All Guitarists!: Where do you stand on the Trustworthiness of Guitars timeline, you douchebag?

Tell Us How You Really Feel: Godspeed You! Black Emperor have something to get off their chest about music today, and they're fired and fed up.

Retarded for Reatard: Expect a DVD, vinyl, and book release containing new footage and insightful tidbits come December 18th from the late Jay Reatard camp.

Black Has Deadly Fists: OFF! has a new video out and Jack Black has his hands full...of guts!

Church Burnin' Surf Party!: Put on your corpse paint and head to the shore 'cause these black metal tunes will have you shooting the curl, Norway surf style.

Free the Pussy Two!: Yekaterina Samutsevich, of famed Russian feminist band Pussy Riot, has her prison term suspended! One down, two to go.

Smart Phone "Do's": Your cell phone company knows more about you than your better-half does. For all Verizon wireless users concerned about their privacy, click here for opt-out options.

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Monday, October 8, 2012

International / Bieber Fever Lady Gaga Gags

Posted by Kelly O on Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 11:38 AM

Never one to be outdone (especially not by Justin Bieber!)—Lady Gaga got gaggy and barfed three times onstage in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday. What a frickin' badass—she barely stops singing.

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Friday, October 5, 2012

International / On Tour The Black Lips On Tour in the Middle East

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 9:13 AM

Bill Cody is a filmmaker and occasional Stranger contributor. (See his 2007 story "Shooting in Iraq" about mentoring young filmmakers in Iraqi Kurdistan.) He is currently on tour through the Middle East with the garage/flower-punks the Black Lips—Cyprus, Egypt, Dubai, Iraq, Jordan, and Beirut—shooting for a documentary as he goes, and sending us occasional emails and photos when his internet connection permits. —Eds.

Hi Brendan: Bill Cody here. Filmmaker and sometime producer of the wild journey that is the Black Lips Middle East Tour with Lazzy Lung from Beirut, Lebanon. They said it couldn't be done but we are doing it. Here's a photo of both bands in Cyprus with their tour manager, Nadim Jamal:

Bill Cody

Here's a picture of Cole Alexander playing in front of a crowd of apprecitive skate punks in Alexandria, Egypt, which they call "the Seattle of Egypt" because the scene here is so vibrant.

Bill Cody

Here's a Black Lips fan in Alexandria. Same as in the States:

Bill Cody

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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

International Got a Passport and Some Days to Burn? Head North to Olio Festival

Posted by Grant Brissey on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 2:26 PM

Ever go north to Vancouver and then when you get there don't know what the hell to do with your night? WELL I HAVE, FRIEND. This is when you do yourself what they call "a solid" (I don't know what industry it is, but I know it happens.) and let Vancouver's Olio Festival spell it all out for you.

Wikipedia Commons

Olio is something like Seattle's City Arts Festival, in that it takes place in venues throughout the city, and it carries on for several days (see the schedule here). And as luck would have it for you, person who has a passport and some days to burn, the thing starts tonight. For instance, you could be up there tomorrow to see our own man, King Dude, or maybe Seattle's Kithkin, but you don't go to a different country to see somebody from your own area code, do you?

You could go there to see, maybe, Denver's Bankrobber:

<a href="http://bankrobber666.bandcamp.com/album/if-god-is-love-then-hate-is-real">If God Is Love Then Hate Is Real by BANKROBBER</a>

But really, don't let me guess what you like. Just go look at the schedule and vet anything that sounds good and plan your attack before you jump in the car. Don't forget to take out the car bong. Also, don't forget that the mounties up there do mandatory checkpoints. That shit can be a real bummer.

Things I would see if I weren't chained to a computer eking out a meager living in my Section 8 housing: Canadians, Man Wolfs, Hot Panda, Needs, Natural Child (who has a better album cover than that?), more Canadians. Vancouver is absolutely rotten with great bands right now.

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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

International / I'm Still a Virgin / #1 Fan These Strypes Are Only Strypes That Matter

Posted by Mike Nipper on Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 3:16 PM

GODAMN.

These kids, the Strypes, are teenagers from Cavan, Ireland, and they fucking KILL IT, like it oughta be KILT. Seriously, the average age of this group is 15 years old, but they out play, and out dress, 99% of the garage bands I've heard in the last decade. These boys got it and they're using it to take over Europe. Dig their blistering version of "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover." I pray they visit the States 'cause someone needs to show the unshaven, "intellectual," and somewhat slightly sweaty lookin' garage wanna-bes how it's done.

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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

International The XX Stream New Album, Partner With Microsoft

Posted by Grant Brissey on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 1:16 PM

Screen_Shot_2012-09-04_at_12.26.50_PM.png

So, I think this is kind of neat. It's also a pretty ingenious marketing campaign. If you go over here and share the stream of Coexist, the new album from the xx, (or is it The XX? Confusionz!), you can track the thing* as it goes viral. The drive is a partnership with Microsoft, who gets points for not forcing people to use Explorer to see it. I guess they wanted people to actually use it.) I don't know how accurate it is, and I'm by no means any sort of techno-wiz, but it's still pretty fun to take a peek at and then think about the world and life and technology and mass communication and what it all means while listening to the record, which is pretty damn lovely.

* Unsurprisingly, it takes forever to load, so hunker down and check back on the tab in a bit.

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Friday, August 17, 2012

International / Crap Pussy Riot Verdict: Two Years

Posted by Grant Brissey on Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 9:04 AM

The verdict just in:

Judge Marina Syrova convicted the women of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, saying they had "crudely undermined social order" [and that] Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, had offended the feelings of Orthodox believers and shown a "complete lack of respect".

That the decision comes as little surprise makes it no less crappy. Still, the women smiled and shrugged as it was read. Obviously, they still win at everything.

Emily Nokes wrote at length about Pussy Riot in this week's music lead.

The story has received massive international coverage and created a groundswell of support for the collective.

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Saturday, August 4, 2012

New Releases / International / Shit Talk Olympsicks 2012

Posted by Dean Fawkes on Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 8:54 AM

Despite having the most relatively incontestable Opening Ceremony music in the history of the Olympics — from O.M.D. to Sugababes to The Kinks, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, David Holmes, Rizzle Kicks, Happy Mondays, and Underworld — and a series of closing shows featuring the likes of New Order, The Specials, Take That, The Who, Pet Shop Boys, the Spice Girls, and Blur, official songs about sports are always worth about as much as aromatherapy to a brick, and the British are still trying to somehow make new attempts that defy tradition.

Thing is, there's no real reason why singing of pools or round things being chucked on some grass is any more absurd than the usual club/love/politics clichés that've been plugging up both indie and mainstream music since Year Zero.

So why is it so depressingly impossible to pull it off?

Muse, Elton John, and Delphic are limp noodles, but some of the other contenders follow below in no logical order.

Something has to deserve the record button.

Something.

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

International / Politics Pussy Riot Still In Jail...

Posted by Kelly O on Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 12:52 PM

... and a man, an artist, doth protest—by sewing his mouth shut. This was probably inspired by David Wojnarowicz, but it's perfectly radical all the same.

I wish I knew what I could do, personally, to support Pussy Riot, aside from donating money. Any ideas, anyone?

On July 24, 2012, Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky walked into the Kazansky Cathedral carrying a placard in support of punk rock band Pussy Riot, with his mouth sewn shut with red string.

Pavlensky was protesting the prolonged incarceration of three members of Pussy Riot, who allegedly performed an anti-Vladimir Putin song at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21st, two weeks before March’s presidential vote. In their “punk prayer,” they asked Mother Mary to deliver Russia from Putin’s third presidential term. The following month, three band members were arrested.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

International Baloji - Karibu Ya Bintou

Posted by Sean Jewell on Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 11:42 AM

DJ and musical mastermind Gilles Peterson curated a festival in London this weekend called Traction. Among the few he chose to play were grime pop group Plugs, and classical interpreters of EDM The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble, who are both, shall we say, interesting. But the one who stood out the most to me was Baloji, whose sound draws heavily on Congolese Zaiko, and I just had to share.

Born in the Congo in 1978, Baloji ended up in Belgium at the age of 3 and was a rapping by the time he was 16. Check this amazing video from his 2010 album Kinshasa Succursale, shot in the streets of Kinshasa and inspired by Muhammad Ali's legendary "Rumble In The Jungle" there.

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