A GENIUS RETURNS London, place of opportunity and excitement. A glamorous place for a provincial boy from (insert place name). London, fortune made, loses its charm. A place of sin, crime and dirty squalor. A need to return to / relocate to a place of more honest virtue (insert place name). This difference between everywhere in the UK and London seems only to be told in these two ways. Here's something slightly different. I'm from London. OK, so I'm from Metroland. No inner city kid me. But I'm more comfortable on the [...]
i see you lookin up, you want to think about it ♫ The Ting Tings - Hands I distictly remember my friend Sam asking me: "What do you think about The Ting Tings?" It was the summer of '08 and he was splayed out in in a hospital bed after tearing his knee to shit. Before I was even able to connect the mental dots to "Great DJ," the only song of theirs I knew at the time, Sam answered his own question: "I've decided I'm not into them." We talked [...]
I was a total bag of nerves for the interview with Zola Jesus last night as she prepared for her set at Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds. Were my questions too intrusive? Am I just going to be another annoying idiot blogger? Exactly how do I approach her manager? Etc. But everything sorted itself out and the interview went smoothly. Nika and I were apologizing too each other for being awkward and I couldn't stop grinning like a kid to meet one of myfavorite artists ever in person. We sat down by the side of the stage after [...]
Whelp, its Friday and things have been a little slow in the new music zone today. That's ok because Im going to use this opportunity to get my Drizzy Drake on! I'm so backed up on recent tracks that I feel like the best place to start is with Hip Hop, R&B, Rock & Roll, Country, Blues, Jazz, Alternative, Folk, Hopscotch & Cambodian music's new Golden Child. This is just the start, Im dedicating the next few posts to Mr. Go To Feature. Download: Sean Garrett feat. Drake - [...]
![Irrelevant Interviews: Jenny [Lewis] & Johnny [Rice]](http://cache.elbo.ws/posts/2797773_lg.jpg)
The whole event was rushed. After scheduling SNAFUs and rearrangements, I got in line behind a million invisible reporters on a million different conference calls, all waiting to talk with a brand new band, Jenny & Johnny. It's a bit surreal that a new group has developed this much hype this quickly, but given the fact that both Jenny and Johnny have their own legion of followers, I guess it's not too surprising. (Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice have lengthy resumes which include not only a rich catalog of solo releases, but also their shared experiences with Rilo [...]
Nissan Pavil...Oh wait, Jiffy Lube Live, as it is now called, is an amphitheater in the middle of nowhere in Bristow, VA. It can seat up to 25,000 people and is the largest venue in the metropolitan area. It is considered the Washington, DC, stop for many tours, even though it's about 35 miles from the district. First of all, you'll have to look past the terrible name and, as anyone who is from this area will tell you: It will always be Nissan Pavilion. In DC we can appreciate change, but we also like to keep some things [...]
Ok I know what your thinking, "Here he goes again, pimping himself and his music". Ya, ya, ya I don't blame you for thinking that because you are at right - at least partially. But hear me out. Along with sharing my indie music experiences with you, the main reason I wanted to share this interview is to introduce you to a new podcaster/musician friend of mine, Eric and his podcast Songwriter Synergy. Before conducting the interview I listened to a few episode and I really liked the subject matter. Stuff like songwriting, equipment, live performance reviews, etc. Anyway, stop [...]
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. I have read more fairy tales as an adult this year than I ever did as a child. I just finished a classic collection, Swedish Fairy Tales , that introduced me to another culture's take on the genre, but two modern takes on fairy tales have impressed me most. Earlier this year I raved about Jim Knipfel's wonderful These Children Come at You with Knives, and Other [...]
The name "The Shills": reminds me I made a mistake yesterday. "No way," I thought about the women on The Pill posters, "There aren't people that look like they hang out at rock clubs with all the rest of us non-models." And you know what they say happens when you assume stuff - you get told. Yes, these hyper-attractive women frequent the place and they don't just exist in the world of poster modeling. Now like a good pill will, The Shills make everything burn a little brighter for a while. They'll be doing this tonight at the hallowed ground [...]
Brian Walsby Manchild ( http://introvertedloudmouth.bl ogspot.com ) I first came across Brian Walsby's comics back in the 1980's in the pages of Flipside. Initially, you look at his stuff, and think "OK, here's a nice light-hearted cartoon," but his work is drenched in real-life. Not to say they're not funny. In the same way Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes, gave you humor in his strips, he never backed away from occasionally slapping you with a message. Well, Brian does this, but it's different . . . it's [...]
============================== =============== Just joining us? I'm counting down 101 of my all-time favourite covers before packing this blog away in the attic. Read my countdown preamble here . ============================== =============== Top 10 Here we go! 10. Ben Kweller - BK Baby [originally Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice] Stop, collaborate and listen to this cover, a brilliant guitar-based sing-a-long version of the Vanilla Ice "classic" white boy rap. 9. Baba Yaga - Back in the USSR [...]
Ok so honestly I've been looking for a reason to post on this one for a while now, since it's been occupying the highest levels of my consistent rotation; and a free bonus EP (I'll get to it in a minute) seems like just the trick. Sleep Forever is such a natural progression from Crocodiles post-Velvets debut that it's practically a reflex. From the stripped back recesses of Summer of Hate , the band has emerged into a lush, saturated territory that mines the best impulses of Spacemen 3 and Primal Scream. Sure if you want to [...]
Extreme metal is full of interesting characters. You'd have to put Brutal Truth drummer Rich Hoak near the top of the list. He's a walking set of contradictions: a yoga practitioner with little use for an ascetic lifestyle; a pessimist who talks about the slow motion apocalypse, yet is quick with a laugh or joke; a man excelling at a musical form invented and usually played by people half his age. Behind his stripped-down drum kit, Hoak looks like Lon Chaney reincarnated, a man of 1,000 faces. There's the snarled lip, the open mouth, the clenched [...]
Hey, Goddess ! This is Kylie 's new video for the second single of her near-perfect 11th album Aphrodite , the sexy Get Out Of My Way . It's visually splendid, yet simple, and fits the song perfectly. If the visuals are anything to go by for The 2011 Folies Tour, then' we're in for a big treat. Ok, I should add "as usual". Well done team Minogue, so far the Aphrodite campaign is great. Ok, I should add [...]
#SF #FALLSUMMER #LOVE Here in San Francisco, we don't get those giddy summer loving feelings that many of you in the rest of the US do when June rolls around. We just get fog, gloom, doom, and wind. Then something happens that is magical - in the last days of August, high pressure systems roll in and the thermometer finally cracks 80 F! When it gets warm, I get warm ... That finally happened in the past week here in San Francisco. And in the midst of this transition to a season [...]
Hey folks, if you are mad because you got shut out of WWDTM live at Carnegie Hall last year, you can purchase presale tickets to the 2010 show right now by making a donation to WNYC. Tickets go on sale to the general public in a couple weeks, and if last year is any indication, they won't be around for very long. Wait Wait is coming back to Carnegie Hall for two shows this time, on October 7th and 8th , and as a WNYC listener, you have a chance to make sure [...]
Ireland hates Axl Rose New Linkin Park single Kings Of Leon reveal new single, album cover Alter Bridge releasing new album in October OK Go going out on tour this October Scott Weiland recording Christmas album
One of the greatest pleasures in this blogger's life is the daily digestion of blog stats. At any given time I can see who's visited here, where they're from and what the most popular posts and downloads are (currently the Jake Holmes/Led Zeppelin one). I can also see who's Googled what and arrived at Plain Or Pan either by sheer good luck or misfortunate malapropos. Current visitors include those looking for What Brand Of Cigarettes Does Keith Richards Smoke? , Pain or Fantasy and my favourite, African Jungle Horse Sex . I can just [...]
OK Go , the most downloaded band ever according to their press, are getting busy this fall. The Los Angeles based outfit have announced details of a fall tour across North America. As well as the tour, they will drop a new version of their album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky on November 2nd (details still forthcoming) and launch a remix competition on September 7th. The tour kicks off at the Los Angeles County Fair on October 3rd and will include stops in Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, New York, and Athens, GA before winding down [...]
Yesterday we posted the first part of Wade Ellis Wilby's latest installment of our Storytellers series about the effect Steely Dan's Aja had on him growing up. Today, we bring you his anecdotes on Side Two of the LP... Peg So girls were obviously a huge part of any 17 year old's life. No scientific breakthrough there. The great groove to this song was really what drove me to it as well as the fantastic harmonies and slick guitar work. But Peg...something was up with [...]
![The Offspring - Gone Away (Piano Version) [16 July 2010]](http://cache.elbo.ws/youtube/K8PYzWte4W8_130.jpg)
The Weekly Graboid
Radioactive
New Music: Dr. Dog – “Take Me Into Town”
