VIDEO DUMP: ELVIS COSTELLO & ATTRACTIONS "I CAN'T STAND UP FOR FALLING DOWN" (1980)

This video features horrendous dance moves by pasty-white English guys (redundant?).

Wow. Just, wow.



WORST VIDEO EVER? It's in the Top 10 for me.

VIDEO DUMP: a-ha "TAKE ON ME (LITERAL VERSION)"

This cracks me up. It's the "literal version" of a-ha's "Take On Me".

Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video? Well now they do.

Lyrics/singing: Dustin McLean
Voices: Jason Nash, Josh Faure-Brac, Priscilla McLean
Thanks: Jonah Ray

Close up eyes!
Hand comes out!
Sketchy arm!
Grab the haaaand!

Band montaaaaaaaage!

GIRL TALK

I love Girl Talk. DJ Gregg Gillis a master at mashing up anything and everything, and as a music geek I probably appreciate these songs more than most (and I'm proud of myself when I recognize the numerous backing tracks).

His new collection "Feed The Animals" available online (and you can "name your price", sort of like Radiohead did last year with In Rainbows) and it's excellent -- very similar to "Night Ripper" (2006), and perhaps more varied and even tighter mixed. Here's track 5, "Set It Off", which is my vote for "song of the summer":



Here's a short list of songs sampled on this single track alone:

0:00	Rihanna	"Umbrella"
0:01	Ying Yang Twins	"Jigglin'"
0:05	Swizz Beatz	"It's Me Bitches"
0:06	Eric B & Rakim	"Eric B. is President"
0:18	Vanilla Ice	"Havin' a Roni"
0:20	Jay-Z	"Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)..."
0:21	Radiohead	"Paranoid Android"
1:00	GZA	"Liquid Swords"
1:11	Wale	"The Freestyle (Roc Boys)"
1:25	Mary J. Blige	"Real Love"
1:26	The Guess Who	"These Eyes"
2:04	Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five	"The Message"
2:04	Aerosmith	"Sweet Emotion"
2:09	Ice Cube	"Check Yo Self"
2:09	Young Gunz	"Set It Off"
2:11	Tom Tom Club	"Genius of Love"
2:35	DJ Kool	"Let Me Clear My Throat"
2:36	Mistah F.A.B. with Turf Talk and E-40	"Super Sic wit' It"
2:38	The Spinners	"The Rubberband Man"
2:38	Fine Young Cannibals	"She Drives Me Crazy"
2:47	Bubba Sparxxx featuring Ying Yang Twins	"Ms. New Booty"
2:55	Dexys Midnight Runners	"Come On Eileen"
3:33	Eddie Floyd	"Knock on Wood"

DURAN DURAN - JAPANESE COMMERCIAL

This cracks me up.

It's a Japanese commercial for whiskey featuring Duran Duran.



Ha!

VIDEO DUMP: IGGY POP "THE PASSENGER (LIVE IN MANCHESTER)" (1977)

Iggy is out of his mind in this live clip from October 1977. He had to be carried to the microphone stand, for chrissake! It's only 7 and a half minutes long, and it's not nearly long enough.



About 5 minutes in he declares: "I like this music!" I hope so, it's your band, Iggy. Awesome.

Iggy Pop "The Passenger (Live In Manchester, 1977)" [YouTube]

VIDEO DUMP: ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION "LOVE IN THIS CLUB" (2008)

I honestly could NOT stop laughing at this "music video".

Usher (feat. Young Jeezy) "Love In This Club" as performed by animatronic robot band Rock-afire Explosion.



From Wikipedia:

The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic robot band that played in Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants from 1980 to 1994. The show was created and manufactured exclusively for Showbiz by Creative Engineering, Inc. in Orlando, Florida. In later years, the show was sold to other restaurants and entertainment centers. The characters in The Rock-afire Explosion were various animals ranging from a dog to a gorilla. They would perform medleys of classic rock, pop, and country music, as well as original compositions.

Wow, that's hilarious. Great job by programmer Chris Thrash.

VIDEO DUMP: YO LA TENGO "SUGARCUBE" (1997)

Here's one of the funniest music videos out there. It's for "Sugarcube" by Hoboken's own Yo La Tengo, featuring Bob and David of Mr. Show fame.



"The Foghat Principle: your fourth album shall be DOUBLE LIVE!"

(I can't believe this clip is 11 years old.)

VIDEO DUMP: PETER GABRIEL "SKY BLUE" (LIVE) (2003)

This version of "Sky Blue" by Peter Gabriel featuring The Blind Boys Of Alabama is stunning. The extended chorus at the end is amazing.



From Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live tour concert film from 2003.

VIDEO DUMP: TIM CURRY "I DO THE ROCK" (1979)

I heard this last weekend (on XM on the way to the wedding rehearsal), and we couldn't get it out of our heads. This song falls somewhere between early Roxy Music ("Virginia Plain") and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London". I'm just proud of the fact that I guessed it came out in 1979. And I guessed it was David Sanborn on sax. Yikes.

One thing is for sure: Tim Curry does the ROCK ROCK ROCK. And he rocks that 'fro.



That song seems longer than 4:20, doesn't it? Here are the lyrics. I have no idea what they mean.

Edith Sitwell giving readings
14 Moscow Road
Osbert's giving champagne parties
Sachie's got a cold
Gertrude's hanging pictures
Alice making tea
Me, I do the only thing that still
makes sense to me
I do the Rock
I do the Rock Rock

John and Yoko farming beef
raising protein quota
Sometimes they make love and art
inside their Dakota
Rodney's feeling sexy
Mick is really frightfully bold
Me, I do the only thing that stops me growing old
I do the Rock
I do the Rock Rock
I do the Rock Rock Rock

Well, it's stimulating
Solzhenitzin feels exposed
build a barbed-wired prison
Nietsche's six feet under but his babies still got rhythm
Einstein's celebrating ten decades
but I'm afraid philosophy is just too much responsibility for me
I do the Rock
I do the Rock

Baby Ruth and Dizzy Dean
Best and Colin Cowdrey
Little Mo, Virginia Wade
Pistol Pete and O.J.
I've always like DiMaggio
and Rockne's pretty knute you know
I could never wack a ball with such velocity
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
It's stimulating - I'm a keen student

Liz and Dick and Britt and Liza
Jaclyn, Kate and Farrah
Meg and Roddy, John Travolta
Governor Brown and Linda
Interwiew and People Magazine
Miss Rona and the Queen
It must be really frightfull to attract publicity
I do the Rock
Myself
I do the Rock

Carter, Begin and Sadat
Breznhev, Teng and Castro
Everyday negotiate us closer to disastro
Idi Amin and the Shah
and Al Fatah is quite bizarre
I could never get the hang of ideology
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
I do - I do - I do - do the Rock.

I had no idea he name checked O.J. Simpson. Wow.

Tim Curry "I Do The Rock" (1979) [YouTube]

COMPLETE ALBUMS LIVE

The latest concert trend appears to be bands playing complete albums live, in order, from start to finish. Here's a short list off the top of my head of some recent examples:

Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation"
Public Enemy "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back"
Sebadoh "Bubble and Scrape"
Liz Phair "Exile On Guyville"
Meat Puppets "Meat Puppets II"
Thurston Moore "Psychic Hearts"
Built To Spill "Perfect From Now On"

Those last three are all going to take place at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Monticello, New York, but also at other venues this summer. While I understand the lure of nostalgia, I'm not sure I 'get' this trend. Half the fun of a concert is not knowing what's going to happen next. Instead, this has all the drama of an iPod playlist you made yourself. While it's one thing to try to regain your indie cred (SY) or sell tickets (Liz) why would a band like Built To Spill agree to do something like this?

What is the reason for this trend? It's possible that artists are making a statement in favor of the album as a viable art form, but I think iTunes has effectively killed that notion. I actually went to a They Might Be Giants show where they performed their entire first album in order, but that was not pre-announced and was just a one-off novelty (for New Years Eve 1991, when the album was only a few years old). I haven't heard of bands doing this type of thing since then.

THE BLACK KEYS - TERMINAL 5, NYC, MAY 15, 2008

I saw The Black Keys last night at Terminal 5. My Lord, they ripped the roof off the place. And yes, there are only two of them on the stage at all times, Dan Auerbach (gtr/vox) and Patrick Carney (drums). The sound he manages to get out of just one guitar (no bass, no rhythm to help) is astonishing, and Patrick's energetic powerful drumming is just amazing. Who knew two boys from Akron could rock so hard?

They kicked it off with "Girl On My Mind", and followed with "Set You Free", "10 AM Automatic" and never let up. Even "Oceans & Streams", the only song which featured Dan playing fuzzy distorted keyboards instead of guitar, sounded fantastic.

None of these clips are from last night's show, but I thought I'd post them anyway to show you what you missed.

"Girl on My Mind" from SXSW 2008.


Here's "I Got Mine", one of the tracks from their new album Attack & Release.


(No, I didn't take any of these videos. I wish I had.)

Here's the duo performing "Stack Shot Billy" from the incredible album Rubber Factory on Letterman.



To all you hipster douchebags who gave Terminal 5 1 star on Citysearch, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. The sound was great, there were two balconies and a huge floor section to view the stage from (only one section to the left on the 2nd floor was VIP, but could be "bought" for $20), and the bartenders and staff were extremely friendly. Maybe if you didn't see a shitty Cat Power show, you would have had a better night.

As Rob succinctly put it "THEY JUST GET IT." Indeed. Fantastic show.

The Black Keys [Official Site]
The Black Keys on MySpace

TOM WAITS "PRESS CONFERENCE"

To announce his "Gloom and Doom" 2008 Tour (which won't be coming to the Northeast), Tom fashioned this humorous performance piece.

VIDEO DUMP: SPOON "YOU GOT YR. CHERRY BOMB" (2008)

This is a cool video for one of my favorite songs from last year "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" by the indefatigable Spoon. It's on their 6th album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007), which gets better with every listen.



Spoon "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" [YouTube]

THESE THINGS TAKE TIME: THE SMITHS REUNION IS ON!

The Smiths have put aside their petty differences after 20 years and have decided to reunite!

They have not yet set a timeline, but they may perform live for the first time since 1987 in a few choice locations in the UK, Europe and New York and L.A. during spring 2009. Depending on how these shows go, they may agree to do more dates. (Or they may not. Who knows with this bunch?)

"I think it was about time we buried the hatchet metaphorically instead of into the backs of each others' skulls," the always quotable Morrissey said at a press conference today, surprisingly sitting next to bassist Andy Rourke. "I won't lie to you: we've been offered an embarrassing amount of money to do this. Though it's not about that, it's about putting aside the animosity we've felt for so long. It's all about maturing, which as you can see, I've done like a fine wine." Rourke barely got a word in edgewise, as you could imagine.

No monetary amounts were disclosed but it's rumoured to be more than the £40 million ($75 million) initially mentioned (hopefully, it will be equally split 4 ways to avoid any bitchslapping). Johnny Marr could not be reached for comment as he is touring with Modest Mouse, but he is expected to join the band this fall for an official announcement of their future plans. This comes hot on the heels of an October 2007 comment by Marr about a possible reunion, and after the news that Mike Joyce really needs cash for some dental work.

None of this is official yet so it's a wait-and-see, but I'm psyched.

1 April 2008: Smiths reunion press conference [YouTube]

UPDATE (10:00 PM): I forgot to add . . . APRIL FOOLS!

VIDEO DUMP: BEASTIE BOYS "BODY MOVIN' (FATBOY SLIM REMIX) (1998)

This video cracks me up, as it uses clips from the crappy 60s spy movie "Diabolique" juxtaposed with shots of the group. You might also remember this as the movie mocked in final episode of one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Mystery Science Theater 3000.

VIDEO DUMP: PORTISHEAD "MACHINE GUN" (2008)

I can't believe it's been over 10 years since Portishead released their eponymously titled second album. I have loved this band from first hearing "Sour Times" back in 1994. This is the first track I've heard from Third, and I'm simultaneously scared/in awe of it.



Portishead "Machine Gun" [non-embeddable]

One of a kind.

Portishead are Beth Gibbons, Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow.
Third will be released April 29 in the US.



Official Portishead MySpace Site
Official Site