Microlog: Sound & Screen

Lester Bangs’ Basement: What it means to have all music instantly available
An interesting argument to make, certainly, but Wyman is wrong: the fact remains that not all music is as available as he supposes. For starters, virtually all of his references are to work generated by mainstream artists! For many of the things I like, I still have to do the internet equivalent of crate digging. And the value in that isn’t in procuring things that others don’t have. I can only wish I could find all the things he says are so instantly available. Permalink ·

Steven Soderbergh’s media diet
A year of films, books, TV, plays and stories consumed. Including Raiders of the Lost Ark three times. In black and white! [c/o Kottke]. Permalink ·

Is a ‘director’s cut’ ever a good idea?
Director’s cuts are fine if they don’t replace the original. And it goes without saying that they only matter where the film is of sufficient quality and the original version was compromised in some fashion. Permalink ·

Make your Garageband sound like a NES
Lovely plugin for those 8-bit chiptunes sounds you’ve always wanted. Permalink ·

Now and then: How film titles have evolved
The 1950s and ’60s are when things start getting awesome. But they’ve bland-ified in recent years, I feel. Permalink ·

Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: Prince of Darkness
Revisiting the locations of John Carpenter’s unfairly maligned sci-fi/horror hybrid from the mid-1980s. Most are still as they were! Permalink ·

George Lucas Stole Chewbacca, But It’s Okay
The real story behind the creation of everyone’s favourite Wookiee. Permalink ·

Cin-O-Matic
For keeping track of upcoming cinema and disc/download releases. US-centric, but that shouldn’t matter too much. Permalink ·

Wikipedia’s list of films considered the greatest ever
Tokyo Story is pretty fantastic, far better than Kane. See also: The AV Club’s best films of the ’00s. Permalink ·

Chris Morris: ‘Bin Laden doesn’t really do jokes’
Interview with the Day Today/Brass Eye mastermind. I haven’t yet seen Four Lions, so this will serve as a reminder. Permalink ·

Virtual Drum Machines
So many samples! Never know when you’re gonna need something like this. Permalink ·

Gateways to Geekery: Japanese Noise-Rock
Bit of a genre mash-up here, as none of the bands really sounds like the others, but still a decent introduction to underground and experimental rock in Japan. Permalink ·

This Is Not a Mixtape
On the resurgence of cassette-only labels. My take on it is that it’s definitely genre-based — it’s all drone and noise artists, really — and it’s become a bit of a hipster thing for many, no longer just an aesthetic choice. Anyway. See also: 101 Cassette Labels and Expressway’s Guide To The Cassette Underground. Permalink ·

Bad Moon Rising: The Practical Lessons of Sonic Youth
“Maybe Sonic Youth’s signing to a major in 1990 — spurred by pragmatism, bad histories with dodgy indies, and just the right amount of youthful/artistic naivete — laid some of the foundations toward helping us be okay with the right kind of corporate assistance 20 years later.” Yeah, but. Sonic Youth were a special case. And where are they know? Signed to an indie (Matador). Still, some good thought food here. Permalink ·

A Very Special Episode: Arrested Development, ‘Good Grief’
It’s about one episode, but it also explains why the show as a whole is so damn good. Permalink ·

Fluffy McCloud
One of the animated shorts from last summer’s IADT end-of-year show that I didn’t get to see at the time; it’s like mixed-media Pixar. Permalink ·

Music for Shuffle
Short interlocking musical phrases designed to play on shuffle, making a different tune every time. Generative music a la Brian Eno (or maybe pseduo-generative; the jury’s still out) Permalink ·

A history of Blunt Records
Dublin-based ’90s indie label once part-owned by the dude from Therapy?; never heard any of this stuff at the time. Permalink ·

BBC Documentary Podcasts
Saving this here with the best of intentions, but I’ll probably never get around to listening. Permalink ·

The 100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time
It goes without saying that this is Not Safe For Work. Permalink ·

24 Hours of Hardcore Punk
More hardcore and related punk-type music than you can shake a stick at [c/o MetaFilter]. Permalink ·

The Guardian’s guide to film genres
Part of the paper’s film season which ran recently. Like any such list it’s subject to much debate, but it’s not bad as an introduction for novices. Permalink ·

What is the most offensive album of all time?
Truth is, the commenters on this piece are providing a far better list. Permalink ·

Arab On Radar: A Primer
The drum transcriptions are pretty much spot on, too! Wish I had a band like this. Permalink ·

Saul Bass, Richard Williams and the fascinating history of cinema’s opening credits
Is there a book about this? If there isn’t there should be. (And if there is, please let me know so I can add it to my wish list.) Permalink ·

MetaFilter links to The Story of SST Records
And possibly kills a wonderful blog where I found countless SST rarities simply unavailable elsewhere (without paying ridiculous collectors’ prices). Permalink ·

Waiting for the Men: why the delay before US shows air in the UK (or anywhere else)?
The short version is that the TV industry is still based on a model of separation predicated on physical geographical boundaries that ceased to exist once high-speed broadband reached a global tipping point. In other words, TV needs to move with the times. Anything else is just an excuse. Permalink | 1 Comments ·

Unassuming long takes in movies
Nice work; it makes me wonder if I really take the time to notice things enough. [c/o Kottke] Permalink ·

ToneMatrix
A simple sinewave sequencer for improvising loops. Would make a great companion to the Korg DS-10. Permalink ·

Reunited Soundgarden Play Secret Seattle Show
Will they play over here? I sure hope so! Still regret missing them at Sunstroke ‘95. Permalink ·

Homestead Records: Frontier Days
A brief history of the US alternative indie label that wasn’t Sub Pop or SST, and the dodgy business practices that brought about its downfall. I thought late-period SST was shady, but Greg Ginn’s got nothing on this. Permalink ·

John K reviews Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
One from the backlog, here. The verdict? It’s pure formula, but with enough interestingness in the animation to put it above the competition. That’s probably why I enjoyed it more than I expected, too. Permalink ·

Film Noir Checklist
A primer for anyone who always wanted to but was afraid to ask. I defy you to watch Sweet Smell of Success and not be knocked out of your socks. Permalink ·

Teal and Orange - Hollywood, Please Stop the Madness
I knew something was off, and now I know why. Permalink ·

The 50 most intriguing games of 2010
New games for the Wii are conspicuous by their absence. Nintendo, what are you doing? Permalink ·

Charlie Brooker: Why I love video games
The man really does love his videogames. But sadly not the Wii, which has its place for casual-but-interested gamers such as myself. Permalink ·

Touch and Go: The Complete Years
The fanzine that begat the label that begat a metric shitload of bands that changed people’s lives forever. Permalink ·

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle draws just 1 million
To be fair, even if it was heavily promoted (I didn’t even know it was on till I read this), my mind simply can’t reconcile the terms ‘Stewart Lee’ and ‘mass appeal’. Permalink ·

New trailer for Cloverfield
So it looks like that’s what it’s officially called now, Cloverfield. Hmm. In any case, it’s shaping up to be a mindlessly fun yet vaguely thoughtful disaster spectacle, and it’ll be out in just two months’ time. Which is nice. Permalink ·

The AV Club interviews the Meat Puppets
They’re playing ATP the weekend before the one I’m going to; I hope they’ll hop over the water and play a show in Dublin, too. But while I’m in Dublin, of course. Permalink ·

Outtakes from the first Meat Puppets album
You know, the one that no one likes because it’s too noisy and screamy and it hasn’t got ‘Lake of Fire’ on it. Permalink ·

The AV Club interviews documentarian Errol Morris
It might be more than a year old, but it’s still worth posting; I always find the background workings and politics of film production a fascinating read. Permalink ·

Electric Picnic set times announced
I won’t be going, but it’s nice to dream — and consider whether I’ve crossed a threshold in my life when I realise I’d rather see Sparks than Yo La Tengo. Permalink ·

OMM readers recommend 10 songs about the police
Pleasing to see my name in print! But I can’t really take the credit; someone else suggested the song, and I merely corrected it to cite the original artists. My own suggestion was Black Flag’s ‘Police Story’, but it didn’t make the cut. Permalink ·

Trailer for American Hardcore
If this gets released in cinemas over here I’ll be a very happy bunny [c/o Fimoculous]. Permalink ·

The Top 50 Movie Endings of All Time
I love movie spoilers, me [c/o kottke.org]. Permalink ·

Voices of Family Guy
So that’s what they look like! I expect it gets painful after the millionth take, but it seems more fun than most workplaces, that’s for sure [c/o TCAL]. Permalink ·

HydraHead set to reissue Botch singles compilation
Something to look forward to, this. Botch were a great band while they lasted. Permalink ·

Bravo to Bravo for picking up [adult swim]
It’s on every night from midnight, hopefully a permanent fixture. First impressions? I’m loving Robot Chicken and The Brak Show, but the rest isn’t as funny as I’d been led to believe by the internets. Permalink ·

Primer timeline
I think I get it now. Or maybe not. Permalink ·

Mike Watt on Double Nickels On The Dime
The man just loves to talk! And I’ve got a whole new level of respect for him after seeing Thurston’s deleted scene on the We Jam Econo DVD. Permalink ·

Heavy Theater
David Byrne on seeing Sunn O))) in concert. Face it, people: metal is legitimate. Permalink ·

Screen Wipe gets two more series
Excellent news! Charlie Brooker is the funny; I eagerly await his return this summer. Permalink ·

Great Barbelith thread on scary (as distinct from horror) movies
I posted my own choices, then promptly forgot about it for a month — and look what it turned into! A great community they/we’ve got there/here. Permalink ·

SUPER AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
This makes up for me neglecting to take pictures at the Boredoms gig a few weeks ago. Permalink ·

Listen to the new Sonic Youth album, “Rather Ripped”
Uncut magazine is streaming all 14 tracks ahead of the album’s release on Monday (which means it’ll actually be in the shops tomorrow, three days before). Permalink ·

OMG!! Lordi wins Eurovision 2006!!
And Australian MeFites have a hissy fit about this thread being a spoiler because the poor babies had to wait for the tape delay broadcast. Well you know what? Tough titty, wallabee-wankers. Permalink ·

Meat Puppets reunite!
The Kirkwood brothers are back together and working on new material, which won’t nearly be as good as Up On The Sun. But still… it’s the Meat Puppets! Permalink ·

How Pink Got So Violent: A guide to Japanese female exploitation films of the ’70s on DVD
Another grindhouse sub-genre gets the reissue treatment — and some socio-cultural context [c/o MetaFilter]. Permalink ·

MetaFilter on Chic-a-go-go
Remember that Bobby Conn video from the late ’90s? Well it’s from a real TV show. Who woulda thunk it? Permalink ·

The Go-Betweens’ Grant McLennan Dead at 48
Bit of a shock, this. At least it seems he died a happy man. And I’m glad I got to see them live on their comeback tour a few years ago, too. He will be greatly missed. (See also: Pitchfork links to a video for Bachelor Kisses, one of my favourite Go-Betweens songs.) Permalink ·

May is National Album Recording Month
Like NaNoWriMo, but for rocking out: 31 days to make a 31-minute record. Will you be joining in? I will, as is my want, be taking the concept one step further, by improvising and recording a one-minute track each day throughout the month. Oh yes. To be continued… Permalink ·

Movie Genre Primers
If you don’t know your Dogme from your Troma, this is the place for you [c/o kottke.org]. Permalink ·

Talk isn’t cheap
A witty introduction to the world of the voiceover artist. Permalink ·

Happy Birthday, D. Boon
Screw April Fool’s — the 1st will always be D. Boon Day to me. Permalink ·

Jack Black’s Nacho Libre Confessional
Five words: Jack Black as a luchadore. That’s about as high-concept as it gets, ladies and gentlemen. Permalink ·

Happy Birthday, Ornette Coleman
Seventy-six years young today, and still going strong. Permalink ·

Bill Cosby’s lawyers threaten Waxy.org
But Andy’s having none of it. Fight the good fight! Permalink ·

The Optimo No Wave Mix
Sweet compilation of dance music from the New York underground. To tide me over till New York Noise Vol 2 comes out [c/o del.icio.us/jack]. Permalink ·

Derek Bailey, 1930-2005
I’ve been familiar with the name for some time but not the music. This is a reminder to check him out. Permalink ·

The Internet Movie Script Database
Filing this for future reference. Permalink ·

Top 10 Reasons Why King Kong Was A Disappointment
I wasn’t blown away either, but not for any of these reasons [c/o Projectionist]. Permalink ·

The Distorted Tune Test
Full marks for me. I knew I wasn’t tone-deaf anyway, but it’s nice to have proof [c/o Mind Hacks]. Permalink ·

What Would D. Boon Do?
Marking the 20th anniversary of his passing last month. Start your own band, paint your own picture, write your own book. Permalink ·

Mothers Against Noise
The crazy rantings of ignorant fools, or a big self-referential double-bluff hoax? I’ll let you decide [c/o MetaFilter]. Permalink ·

Columbia Law School Music Plagiarism Project
“A repository of the music industry’s most famous copyright infringement cases of the past 100 years.” Man oh man! Only in the crazy world of the recording industry could someone be sued for plagiarising himself [c/o MetaFilter]. Permalink ·

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Ramblin’ Man
Songs from the upcoming collaborative album by yer one from Crystal Tips and Alistair with that fella from the Screaming Trees. Weird. But intriguing. Permalink ·

For Whom Hell’s Bells Toll
“Two decades after it was first used to demonize the ‘devil’s music’ we take another look at the oddly fascinating Hell’s Bells documentary and what it says about morality, youth culture, and music criticism.” The list of bands indicted for ‘moral crimes against God and humanity’ has to be seen to be believed. Permalink ·

“What I’m hoping for in 2006 — aside from an end to war and poverty and seeing George Bush dragged off to federal prison in handcuffs — is more band logos”
On a related note, my post on rock and roll graphic design might be of interest here. Permalink ·

The most interesting pieces of pop music trivia that you know (that are 100% false)
I meant to post this ages ago. The list is creeping up to 1000 entries and still going strong. (I’ve got two in there; the former you can ignore but I’m quite proud of the latter.) Permalink ·

Meat Puppets Live Repository
For all your live Meat Puppets needs. Permalink ·

NPR: Learning to Scream, on Cue and in Key
An interview with a vocal coach for metal growlers and screamers. If I ever start that new-wave/noise-pop/grindcore band I’ve been planning for years, this will come in handy [c/o del.icio.us/merlinmann]. Permalink ·

I find your lack of faith disturbing
The weblog of Josh Friedman, screenwriter. If this doesn’t turn into a book, I’ll eat my left shoe. Permalink ·

The story of Superman V
If you thought Hollywood producers were morons before, just wait till you read this. Permalink ·

The Onion A.V. Club interviews George Carlin and John Carpenter
I’m posting these together, because they look a lot alike. Don’t they? Hmm. Maybe it’s just me. Permalink ·

Pitchfork presents The Worst Album Covers of All Time
And only one modern rap album cover? They could have filled the list with them. Permalink ·

Barbelith discusses record label loyalty
I expected greater participation, but howandever. Good stuff here. Permalink ·

Family Guy or The Simpsons?
My opinion? Nothing beats The Simpsons from Season 3 up to about Season 10, specifically that Superbowl episode. From then on, it’s Family Guy all the way. Permalink ·

There’s an annoying article in today’s Observer about online music criticism and something called ‘Blog-ish’
I wish journalists wouldn’t try to pass judgement about topics they’re completely unfamiliar with. The Pitchfork criticism might be valid, I’ll give that much, but ‘Blog-ish’? What is this person on about? And is there are shortage of subeditors at the Observer right now? Because frankly, it shows. Permalink ·

myspace.com/room204
Instrumental post-rock from France. A friend of mine is helping promote their short Irish tour next week; if you like early Don Caballero, like I do, they’ll be right up your street. Permalink ·

The man who invented album covers
This is why I love the internet, #574. Permalink ·

Hong Kong movie pirate sentenced
What’s worse than this guy going to jail is knowing the movies he went to jail for. Permalink ·

Van Morrison’s Contractual Obligation Record
This is great stuff, much better than the music he’s famous for. If only Van the Man had continued along the Wesley Willis route… Permalink ·

Blue Velvet, analysed frame-by-frame [c/o del.icio.us/kfan]
Check in again in a couple of years when it gets to the scary parts. Permalink ·

The A.V. Club interviews Bob Mould
He seems like a cool guy and all, but he really doesn’t think he was as much an asshole as Grant and Greg, does he? Permalink ·

Pitchfork interviews Boards of Canada
I had no idea they were brothers. But it seems obvious now. Permalink ·

In Memoriam: Joe Ranft of Pixar
He was the voice of Heimlich in A Bug’s Life. I loved Heimlich! Permalink ·

To the girl in the pink Killers shirt at the Killers concert [c/o ToT]
Funny stuff. I’m tempted to say that it serves him right for going to a Killers concert, but I’ll hold my tongue. Permalink ·

Southern Records’ John Loder passes away [c/o del.icio.us/jack]
Scroll down through the comments for tributes from friends, colleagues, label partners and band members. Permalink ·

100 songs in 78 minutes and 19 seconds
Don’t worry, the majority of these are from bands and independent labels who won’t sue you indisriminately. Permalink ·

For the Music
A short feature on John Zorn’s new live venue in Manhattan. It’s child-friendly too, which is a refreshing change. I’m all for educating the young folk. Permalink ·

lift yr. skinny fists like antennas to heaven!
An Irish music blog that — shock horror! — actually looks beyond the Irish music scene?! It must be some kind of trick… Permalink ·

The Reactionaries (recorded at George Hurley’s Shed on 17th St, San Pedro, CA, January 1979)
Oh happy day! Merlin and Mat, I know you’ll both appreciate this one. Permalink ·

Ryan Adams vs Pitchfork II: The Rematch
That Adams guy’s one crazy damn fool, yo. Permalink ·

Vision on
For anyone interested in the context of popular music, this is a must read — and a great taster for Reynolds’ book. Permalink ·

The Chalets play ‘Feel the Machine’ [c/o WaxyLinks]
Yes, the very same Chalets who’ve been gigging around Dublin for the last couple of years. They’re not too bad, actually. Great video, too. Permalink ·

Yat-Kha play post-punk
I don’t know what to say, really. Permalink ·

Sigur Ros have a Flickr account [c/o del.icio.us/jack]
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Ernest Lehman, Hollywood screenwriter, 1915-2005
As a tribute, here’s Lehman’s working script for a true noir classic, The Sweet Smell of Success (c/o MetaFilter). Permalink ·

Michael Chabon on his attempt to get the scriptwriting gig for Fantastic Four
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The Onion A.V. Club interviews Negativland
Don’t say I told you this, but you can get the ‘forbidden’ U2 single right here. Sshhh! Permalink ·

First Monday Special Issue: Music and the Internet [c/o del.icio.us/cityofsound]
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The Lost Generation: How UK post-rock fell in love with the moon, and a bunch of bands nobody listened to defined the 1990s
I actually have read this one. It’s a bit too Lester Bangs for my liking, but there you go. Permalink ·

New York Rock: A Critical History [c/o MetaFiler]
I’ve yet to read this, I’m posting for later reference. Check the MetaFiler thread for some context. Permalink ·

The Observer Music Magazine Poll
Some intriguing findings here. And others not so. Permalink ·

Family Guy’s Chris Griffin jets yanked into an A-Ha video
Priceless! Permalink ·

James Doohan, 1920-2005
Scotty beams up for the last time. Permalink ·

If our favorite movies and TV shows are so easy to find, will we still enjoy watching them? [c/o kottke.org]
Some? Definitley. Others? Not so much. Permalink ·

Lock and Load
Sarah Vowell contrasts the Arizona minutemen (boo!) with San Pedro’s own Minutemen (yay!). Permalink ·

The Onion A.V. Club interviews Dinosaur Jr
I love that passive-aggressive tension between J and Lou, even after all these years. Permalink ·

TransFormers finally rolling out
I linked to this two years ago, but now it’s finally happening. Pity we’ve got to wait another two years before we see it. Permalink ·

40 Things That Only Happen in Movies
I’m sure there are a few more. Permalink ·

The Guardian’s Toon Tester quiz
I got 9 out of 10, no cheating. Booyah! Permalink ·

Spin’s 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005
My opinion? Slint (94), the Meat Puppets (86), Soundgarden (84) and At the Drive-In (83) should be far higher than they are. Permalink ·

Salon interviews Bruce Campbell
Some more Brucey love for you. Permalink ·

“As far as Evil Dead (yawn) 4. Sam Raimi is too busy making wheel-barrels of money right now.” [c/o del.icio.us/kfan]
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Q And Not U to Disband
They never bothered to play here, the buggers. Permalink ·

Ulysses Speaks!
My old college acquaintance Noel would appreciate it, I’m sure. I never bought into the whole NoU thing, but their first album is so good it sounds like it was recorded tomorrow. Permalink ·

The Flipside Fanzine Memorial Website [c/o Irregular Orbit]
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Interview with Devo’s Jerry Casale [c/o Boing Boing]
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A 7-year-old questions the continuity of the Star Wars series [c/o plasticbag.org]
Did a better job than me, too. Permalink ·

iTunes Celebrity Playlist Roundup [c/o ToT]
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Somebody out there really hates George Lucas [c/o kottke.org]
Whoa, don’t hold back there, mister. Permalink ·

The Krypton Factor set for return to TV
If it doesn’t have a) the flight simulator and b) the assault course with the thingy you grab onto to whizz down the cable at the end, then it’ll be shite. Permalink ·

American cinema chain to advertise ‘actual’ start times
Isn’t this article a bit pointless? I don’t see what the big deal is. When I worked for UCI it wasn’t any secret that the features started 15 minutes after the billed time (that was standard; we had it on our schedules so we’d be ready for cleaning the theatres). All that ‘busy moviegoers’ stuff is crap, anyway: if you’re so bloody busy, why are you going to the fucking movies?? And besides, hasn’t anyone thought that giving an earlier time means stragglers won’t interrupt the start of the movie so much? Didn’t think so. Permalink ·

NPR interview with Dischord co-boss (and Fugazi founder) Ian MacKaye [c/o Fimoculus]
Hard to believe that he and Henry Rollins grew up as buddies, considering their current relative positions in popular culture. Permalink ·

Sleater-Kinney’s new video, ‘Entertain’ [c/o Fimoculus]
As far as I’m concerned, they haven’t had a great album since The Hot Rock. I don’t think the new one will change things, either. Permalink ·

The world’s biggest Devo fan
I hereby confess my own love of Devo — especially the last album before the first break-up; it’s the Eighties through and through, and it’s bloody marvellous. Permalink ·

High school jazz band covers Wolf Eyes for a school performance [c/o ToT]
I wonder what the teachers made of it. Permalink ·

Roger Ebert’s tribute to the late Russ Meyer
No introduction necessary. Permalink ·

Sasha Frere-Jones reviews Slint on their one-off reunion tour
I could have gone to see them here last month, but money is tight, and I didn’t want to spoil the magic. Live shows can kill it for me. In a way, I agree with Patrick Bateman’s views on the live music experience. Permalink ·

NWA’s Straight Outta Compton, with everything removed except the profanity [c/o WaxyLinks]
It goes without saying that this is NSFW. (See also: Fuck Tha Police: the ‘edited’ version) Permalink | 1 Comments ·

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore on the power of the mix tape
Call me a luddite, but mix tapes for me are far superior to mix CDs. Even something simple like the shift of mood between two sides of a tape can’t be replicated on a single disc. They’ve always been more about emotion, about capturing the moment, than about sonic fidelity. Permalink ·

The entire Dischord catalog, including albums long out of print on CD/LP, will soon be available for digital downloading
iTunes already has most of them. Must… resist… temptation! Permalink ·

White Stripes record new album in 10 days
Ten days? Big deal! The Huskers recorded Zen Arcade in three days — and that was a double album, too. Permalink ·

Mike Watt is taking the Secondmen to Dublin on May 12th!
Hot damn! Watt’s first ever headline show in Ireland! I am so there! Permalink ·

Devo’s “Whip It”, in Powerpoint-style outline format
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Mike Watt’s “Burstedman” Quicktime video
Direct download link here. If you’re on dial-up, be warned; it’s over 40MB. Permalink ·

The Simpsons Body Count [c/o The Morning News]
It’s a conspiracy I tells ya! Permalink ·

Eno’s Music for Airports
A good introduction to Eno’s ambient music. I’ve got the fourth in the series, On Land, and I’d recommend it to anybody. Permalink ·

Scientists may have found what makes a tune catchy, after locating the brain area where a song’s “hook” gets caught
Whenever I get a bad tune stuck in my head, I use Steve Albini’s advice: just play Tina Turner’s ‘Private Dancer’ in your head, and all will be well again. (It’s the utter shapelessness of the song that makes it work. Or something.) Permalink ·

Video for The Futureheads’ Decent Days and Nights
I dunno, it seems a little overdone to me. The original video is much more restrained, it doesn’t distract from the song. But that’s just me. (Be warned, it’s a 44MB download.) Permalink ·

Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso is out now on DVD
Back in the mid-’90s I used to read a magazine called Super Play. If you don’t know it, it was an unofficial magazine for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; for those who do, I’m sure you remember it fondly. You see, what was different and special about Super Play was its focus on ‘grey market’ Japanese import games, which went hand in hand with regular reports on other facets of Japanese pop culture like manga and anime — those alluring alien ideas that made each issue compulsive reading for me. I was never a big gamer, but the likes of Super Play, and the irreplaceable Digitiser on Teletext, made me feel like a part of the greater gaming world, appreciating my interest regardless of my lack of skill (and boy, was my skill lacking!) and neither was afraid to step away from the console for a while. It was in Super Play that I first read about Porco Rosso, in a context where it wasn’t too weird to discuss a cartoon about a pig flying a warplane. I still miss Super Play. Permalink ·

It’s not too late to listen to the Gang Of Four’s BBC radio session and interview with Andy Kershaw from Sunday night (direct link here)
It’ll likely be gone by March 6th, so hurry up! Permalink ·

The Screaming Trees’ debut album Clairvoyance has been reissued
I’ve always wanted to hear this one, their early stuff is brilliant. Permalink ·

The trailer for the Minutemen movie, We Jam Econo [c/o del.icio.us/torrez]
I can’t wait to see this! Permalink ·

The Onion A.V. Club interviews Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane
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Buddyhead interviews Kevin Shields [c/o The Morning News]
I was in the same room as Kevin once. Granted, that room was Whelan’s during a J Mascis gig, but even so… boy I can’t wait till ‘You Made Me Realise’ gets re-released. Permalink ·

Gunman kills Dimebag Darrell on stage
This is just fucked up. Permalink ·

Mike Watt and the Secondmen at the Iron Horse Music Hall, 25/10/04
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Fairlight synthesiser samples [c/o del.icio.us/jack]
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Launch of iTunes Music Store in Ireland stymied by disagreement with IMRO
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Why I haven’t bought anything from the iTunes Music Store [c/o del.icio.us/magnetbox]
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Kill Bill Vol. 1 — in ASCII [c/o Boing Boing]
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Kottke discovers New Order’s Blue Monday
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Deaf to the World, iPod Addict Unplugs [c/o The Morning News]
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“Filmmaker Sam Raimi is in talks with New Line Cinema about loaning the studio the zombie slayer from his Evil Dead movies to costar in a three-way, big-screen bout, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.” [c/o del.icio.us/kfan]
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Honest Album Titles [c/o del.icio.us/magnetbox]
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Musical degrees of separation [c/o kottke.org]
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A great quote from John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats on the file sharing brouhaha
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The Donnie Darko website, step-by-step
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Everything you were afraid to ask about “Donnie Darko” [c/o del.icio.us/merlinmann]
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Possible Follow-up Songs for One-Hit Wonders
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Heat Vision and Jack: The greatest TV series never made?
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The Futureheads’ album is out today! And you can preview the whole thing here!
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Apple’s iTunes Music Store launches in ~~Europe~~ the UK, France and Germany
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Evil Dead: The Musical
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Cinema 24: “This blog is intended to chronicle the process of developing, financing, starting, and maintaining a small, independently-owned, art-house theater.”
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Lost Bands of the New Wave Era
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John Cage: Online recordings (in addition, a quick search on Google turned up some from Morton Feldman too)
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“back to the ho and chimp the previous day’s diary. man, does this room have a lot of mirrors - what’s that about? I don’t have many in my pad - I get enough watt… I have to live in his fucking head!”
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Nominee for Ninth Wonder of the World: A rock opera about the Comics Code [c/o The Morning News]
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The infamous Quincy Punk Rock episode [c/o del.icio.us/merlinmann]
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The Icarus Line are currently streaming their new album, Penance Soiree
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David Carradine on David Carradine: “I’m not a rebel. I’m just an iconoclast.”
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Freaks And Geeks finally makes it onto DVD!
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Stylus Magazine’s Top 101-200 Albums of All Time [c/o ToT]
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“I really don’t like Sting’s new music very much, but he has a total right to make records. I wouldn’t call him up and say, ‘You gotta stop making records, man, you suck!’”
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Kevin Shields in First Interview for 12 Years Shocker! [Correction: It might be his first for the UK press, but I had completely forgotten about his interview with Arthur Magazine a few months ago. Oops.]
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Badmotorfinger — Torch-Lighter Of The Grunge Flame?
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An interview with Dischord co-owner Ian MacKaye [c/o Boing Boing]
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Martin Lyon’s wonderful photos of the Minutemen’s early days [c/o Merlin’s del.icio.us links]
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Amid layoffs and slipping sales, film companies are struggling to keep the ailing industry alive
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Matt Haughey on digital music drawbacks
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System Of A Down lyrics, filtered through the mind of a genius [c/o Torrez’s Daily Notes]
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Introducing the Minibosses: a Nintendo game cover band
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Buddyhead’s Best & Worst Records of 2003 [c/o ToT]
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PCs killed the mix-tape star / Praise be to the CD burner [c/o Magnetbox]
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The Making of The Secondman’s Middle Stand
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Former Hüsker Dü member/WCW booker Bob Mould has a weblog [c/o WaxyLinks]
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The infamous chalkboard from School of Rock [c/o fibiger.org]
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