MGMT, the glam-psych duo who went from dorm-room hotboxing to platinum-selling poncho glory in the span of mere months, have unleashed (and that really is the right word) the first single from their upcoming sophomore album Congratulations, due April 13.
Stream the choogling, operatic Moby Grape-in-disco-boots “Flash Delirium” below, and tell us what you think of their first post-Oracular follow-up. Spectacular, or not so much?
Image Credit: Jay Blakesberg/RetnaGeorgia rockers Widespread Panic are approaching their 25th anniversary, and set to release their 11th album, Dirty Side Down, on May 25th. The new record includes one especially poignant track: a cover of “This Cruel Thing,” an unreleased song from friend fellow Athens musical legend Vic Chesnutt, who passed away on Christmas Day 2009. We got lead singer John Bell on the phone to chat about Chesnutt’s legacy, the difference between improvisation and “stumbling,” and the general state of the Widespread Panic union.
Entertainment Weekly: After 10 albums, how do you keep finding ways to push your music forward? John Bell: I think you just keep a few holes in the dam so stuff will keep leaking through. We’re looking for new territory just to keep it fun and interesting for us.
Do you think there’s something inherent in the “jam band” aesthetic that allows you to stumble more easily across new sounds? Hmm. Well, I’m not too fond of the phrase “jam band.” It does tend to refer more to stumbling than actual improvisation.
Can you explain the difference between those two things in your mind? Obviously one implies more conscious thought rather than just tripping over something, but expand on that. We hope it’s more musically soul-searching. The term “jam band” — in the beginning, there was just the notion of bands that were more willing to improvise and get off the script of a song. But hopefully, you improvise with a purpose. With some focus. And with open ears to what other people are doing on stage. It’s easy as a player to just kind of stand around until you find something. A listener applying themselves to “jam band” music might not be listening with focus, either… I’m trying not to offend anybody.
Are they not listening with focus because of all the drugs? [laughs] Oh, no! I just think there’s a difference when you’re experimenting with a sense of musical conversation going on. The performance can rise up to much heavier level levels than it would if you were just following a script. READ FULL STORY »
It seems hard to believe that it’s been 13 years since Christopher “Biggie” Wallace was killed, shot four times in the chest on an L.A. roadway. And that, for all the impact he had on hip-hop and pop culture at large, he went out two months shy of his 25th birthday.
After years of conspiracytheories and books and documentaries, the mystery of who did it is still, famously, unsolved; MTV.com looks at the status of the case today in honor of the anniversary date. (The gist: LAPD = shady. Otherwise, not a ton of progress.)
I remember where I was when I heard the news that he was dead—sophomore year of college, on the car stereo at a gas station in California; at first I thought it was just a really tacky radio prank, playing off the death of Tupac Shakur six months before.
But more than that, I remember the first time I heard Ready to Die, the debut album that made him a superstar three years earlier (and the lines shouted out at at every.single.house.party for months after: “Birthdays was the worst days. Now we sip champagne when we thirst-ay”). So while we honor the Biggie who died today, let’s also celebrate the one who lived it larger than life for 24 years:
Tell us your own best Biggie memories in the comments section below.
In a new Funny or Die clip, Raaaaaaaandy, the alter-ego of comedian Aziz Ansari, claims that Justin Bieber stole his biggest hit, “Baby,” from Raaaaaaaandy’s original, “Baby Baby.” Look for cameos from TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, who should also be very offended that an “armed and extremely dangerous” Justin Bieber impersonator, who in the clip can exhale marijuana like a full-fledged adult, stole their beautiful “Baby, Baby” riffs. Possibly NSFW…
In the first official video from their upcoming She & Him Vol. 2, due March 23, the titular duo (a.k.a. singer/actress/Cabbie-wife Zooey Deschanel and indie-folk star M. Ward) go back to school like Rodney Dangerfield.
With its classroom choreography, meet-me-by-the-lockers eyes, and gymnasium hula-hooping, the clip is a kind of loopy cross between “Hit Me Baby One More Time,”Bye Bye Birdie, and a Gap ad, with opaque tights. Watch below:
They say that when God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window. Lil Wayne was finally locked up on Rikers Island today (after a series of delays that made us wonder if perhaps God didn’t much want to close the door on Weezy). But hip-hop fans, do not dismay! After a year behind bars on weapons charges (the same fate that befell Wayne; c’mon, dudes), rapper T.I. is transitioning back into the public eye. His first single, the appropriately-titled “I’m Back,” is loose on the internets… even if T.I. himself is still in a halfway house for another couple weeks. Give it a listen:
Image Credit: Carlo Allergri/Reuters/LandovLil Wayne will sleep in a cell tonight, now that a judge has formally handed down the one-year sentence the rapper agreed to when pleading guilty last fall to a July 2007 weapons crime. (His original sentencing date last month, pictured, was postponed so he could undergo dental surgery; it was delayed a second time last week due to a courthouse fire.) If he’s lucky, Wayne could get out after eight months for good behavior; if not, fans won’t be seeing him again ’til March 2011. Either way, that’s a long time in today’s 24/7 pop culture news cycle. How will his career weather the time-out?
Image Credit: Brigitte Sire When multi-instrumentalist and producer Greg Kurstin (he’s worked with everyone from Britney and Kylie to Lily Allen and Little Boots) and singer-songwriter Inara George, a.k.a. indie-pop duo The Bird and the Bee, take on a covers album, they aim high. Like, Hall & Oates high.
The third full-length from the duo (dog in pic not included) will be the faux-loftily titled Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates, featuring their take on H&O classics like “Maneater,”“Rich Girl,”“Private Eyes” and the exclusive-to-EW ballad “Sarah Smile.” Stream it below, two weeks before the official March 23 release date:
Did they master the Masters? Tell us in the comments section, below.
Mark Linkous, the Virginia-born indie-rock fixture best known for his work in the lo-fi psych-folk project Sparklehorse, as well as for collaborations with artists ranging from Danger Mouse to Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and PJ Harvey, died March 6th of a self-inflicted gun shot wound.
He came very close to dying once before, while touring with Radiohead in 1996; an overdose of pills, alcohol and anti-depressants caused him to lose consciousness in a London hotel room for 14 hours, with his legs pinned beneath him. His subsequent heart attack left him legally dead for several minutes, and the time he spent unconscious without circulation to his legs put him in a wheelchair for six months.
Ironically, that incident helped inspire one of his most commercially and critically successful albums, 2001′s fragile, haunting It’s a Wonderful Life. Watch the original video for the title track below, directed by Guy Maddin:
Like Vic Chesnutt, who also recently took his own life, Linkous wrestled with depression and ongoing health problems, but also made that struggle an important part of his music. Though it would be presumptive to guess why they both decided to go when they did, it’s a similarly sad loss for the rock community, and for the loved ones they left behind.
Linkous’s publicist has not announced yet what will happen with a recently recorded and reportedly unfinished Sparklehorse album, though one posthumous project, his Dark Night of the Soul collaboration with Danger Mouse and David Lynch (Vic Chesnutt is also a guest on one track), is slated for release this summer, after a drawn-out battle with record label EMI.
Pitchfork has rounded up some nice tributes from famous friends and fans here; you can do the same if you would like to in the comments section below.
In a Diet Coke commercial aired last night during the Oscars telecast, viewers got a taste (like Pepsi, but different!) of a song that, more than a year and a half after its release, can’t seem to stop getting placed in movie trailers, ad campaigns, and TV shows. Watch its latest cameo, below:
It’s a great song, one that almost guarantees a nice little booster shot of serotonin in every viewer’s ad-addled brain. But is it time to put a moratorium on co-opting it to sell everything from soft drinks to sedans? The Rhapsody ad—using music to sell a music service—at least makes sense. And we hate to begrudge the band both the wide exposure and the residuals one hopes all this usage is putting in their wallets; take the money and run, boys.
But with its multiple appearances on TV shows, too (the song has been used in episodes or promos for 90210, Greek, The Good Wife, and The Deep End), it might be time to either retire the track from big and small screens, or give it the inevitable SNL digital short treatment, a.k.a. The Imogen Heap/Marissa Cooper OC Memorial Razzie for Pop Cultural Ubiquity, before it hits “Hallelujah”-style saturation.
