Back in 1997 Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian wrote and published what eventually became my favorite Los Angeles guidebook. That book's name was (and is) LA Bizarro . A few years ago on this website I talked to Matt about the original book's undertaking ( fun interview with Matt here ). Since that time the two authors have now revised, updated and significantly expanded that original tome, and their collective output was published by Chronicle Books just this fall. In the 2009 updated edition of LA Bizarro (available at the time of this [...]
The radio plays on and on. The heartbeat flat-lines. The Norwegian transplant Sondre Lerche, a music industry veteran at only 27, possesses considerable talent, but his new album Heartbeat Radio finds him working too hard toward no discernible end. The album is about love in its most mundane forms -- passing the morning paper back and forth over tea, squabbling, driving, chatting. It's a minor work for minor moods, but it mostly fails to achieve even its modest intentions. There's a sort of ill-fitting...
Hot on the heels of last year's awesome Find Me A Drink Home , the Lansing, Michigan trio Cheap Girls is back with another great full-length full of straightforward punkish power-pop, My Roaring 20's . There really aren't any huge changes to be found when comparing My Roaring 20's to their debut, but (again) it seems as if Cheap Girls know exactly what it is they do well and just stick with it. The production is (however) a bit better but still retains enough of the lo-fi charm that no one will accuse [...]
As When Under Ether , another Irish TV music show, sets out to provide the viewing audience with a domestic alternative to the MTVs of this world, the influence of No Disco is stronger than ever. Far more than a mere musical footnote, for the decade between 1993 and 2003, the show was required viewing for Ireland's quality-starved music fans and manna from heaven for local acts. In more ways than one, No Disco began and ended with a 'Cannonball'. As the familiar bass-line of The Breeders' track of the same name kick-started [...]
Norman Wong Even though he coined it himself, I often wonder if Joel Gibb regrets encouraging the use of "gay church folk music" as a description for the music of The Hidden Cameras . Certainly they got a lot of mileage out of it in the band's earlier days, as it was both attention grabbing and accurate, but now, four albums in, it probably deserves to be retired. It's not that it's no longer descriptive - Gibb is still gay (one assumes), it's still music and it's still built on foundations of folk and church traditions [...]
Tuesday morning jazz: 1) Kidd Jordan: "Unity Call" 2) Nicole Mitchell: "Black Unstoppable" 3) Cecil Payne: "That's It Blues 4) Keter Betts: "Summertime" 5) Miguel Zenon: "Pandero y Pagode" 6) Billy Higgins: "Humility" 7) Henry Threadgill: "Paper Toilet" 8) Grachan Moncur III: "Back Home" 9) Ray Barretto and New World Spirit: "I Mean You" 10) Martial Solal and Dave Douglas: "Blues to Steve Lacy"
Pitchfork may have usurped everyone with their best-of-the-decade list, but the floodgates are open now and many other publications are printing their nominations. Today (Nov. 17), the NME has produced a list of the albums they consider to be the best of the decade, and there are very few surprises. The paper was one of the earliest champions of the Strokes when they emerged at the beginning of the decade, and Is This It is their predictable number 1 choice. The list is male dominated and indie-centric—Jay Z's The Blueprint [...]
It turns out that The Sun's 40th birthday TV campaign is a series, so last night we were treated to a new one about how great The Sun headlines are. Or rather were, as there didn't seem to be anything in the advert from since MacKenzie left. Gordon Smart is again stood, blinking awkwardly at the camera, trying to convince us that Sun headlines were something "you'd talk about in the pub later". Really? The headline ? There's probably only one headline which people were talking about hours later, but for some reason, The Sun [...]
The rain just started. I can hear it hitting the window behind me. It is an ugly day: dark, wet and dreary. Gracie and I will brave the weather a bit later to do a couple of errands. I have had a few false starts this morning. First I wrote about obituaries. The one of the woman described as loving to shop had caught my eye. I wondered if she'd approve of that legacy. I wrote about the man who bowled, his favorite pastime, and wondered about my own obituary, but then I got stuck so I stopped, [...]
Well. That sucked. Yesterday went about as I feared / expected and our beloved wilderness explorer, urban trail guide and pack leader Shenoa lost her battle with Time, just a few months removed from her 13th birthday. Of course, as her guardians it fell to us to give time itself a nudge, to head to the vet's and make that most incomprehensible request of asking someone to end a dear friend's life. And of course, it's not like that, not really. This most difficult of decisions is The Right Thing. This is What's Done. This is [...]
Sure, Christopher Owens's life story sounds like a bit much , what with the being raised in a cult, and having a millionaire savior and ending up in one of the most critically hailed and widely embraced bands of the year. Ever the suspicious type, The Village Voice decided to look into the Girls lead singer's claims and the verdict is that Owens is likely telling the truth . The paper found bits of scattered proof supporting Owens's account of his fantastic, out-there upbringing: "At the [...]
Boycotting American radio might be the wisest decision. Satellite was supposed to be the great equalizer, but despite the promise of Bob Dylan waxing philosophical about catfish, I'm not willing to fork over $20 a month to hear Martha Stewart, Nascar and Oprah boosting Precious . And it's not like Sirius has come running to me with offers to host blog radio either, or really at anyone willing to play non-Shade 45 approved rap (not to impugn the blog radio shows, some of which are excellent). KCRW is cool-they played The KLF's "3 a.m. Eternal," at 3 a.m. early [...]
The sky is cloudy. It's a windy day. Leaves are falling and blowing, victims of the wind. The oak tree near my window has only a few leaves left. All of them are brown and fragile looking. I can see my neighbor's house for the first time since late spring. I never got confused about the holidays when I was little. Each had its own time in the spotlight. Halloween arrived in October. Pumpkins appeared on doorsteps. Our windows were decorated on the inside with cardboard witches, ghosts and skeletons with movable arms and legs. Masks and costumes [...]
I've got a little informal poll this morning for you guys who zip through here daily: How many of you who drop by have turntables? How many of you collect vinyl? How many of you visit the blog for the free Mp3's? Or is it the contests? I'm curious because, as the City Paper Arts Blog commented yesterday, "The Vinyl District is giving a way a shit-ton of vinyl as part of "TVD's Fall Vinyl Giveaways Week." Here's the best part: to win, you simply need to make your case for winning in [...]
The latest Warmer Climes mixtapes: David Kyhlberg ( The Morning Paper / Sail A Whale ) , Leonard Kaage ( Leonard Kaage and The Kin ) and Maja Milner ( Makthaverskan ) .
Seeing as how this is merely an average Monday morning in November, I'm guessing many of you weren't overly psyched to greet the day. Well, let us turn that around quick fast: with a simple email to us you could win yourself 6 beautiful vinyl albums from Paper Bag Records . Yes friend, you read that correctly, not 1, not 2, and not even 3, but 6 lovely vinyl albums. And I do mean lovely (and somewhat rare): All Paper Bag Records vinyl releases are produced in limited quantities on [...]
I can think of no better way to start our work week/Monday morning than with a huge gift in the form of something free, something amazing and something musically diversely perfect. Of course it comes from some of our fave Chicagoans, The Hood Internet . It's been just over a year since the last installment of their mixtapes dropped, they recently posted up their 300th "Hood track", and in order to celebrate, their new mixtape is all yours, mine and ours...for free! [...]
Sunday Morning With The Times. I am always on the look out for new songs to accompany my obsession with Sunday mornings....homemade breakfast, pot of coffee, big-fat-paper and lots of music. So I a went a little crazy when I first this song b/c it s per ...
Normally, when Gordon tells us about all the things that he's been doing, it's accompanied by an awkward photo. Not this time : Yes, it turns out when he's laddishly hanging out with a footballer and kicking a football about and - heh - not being very good at it, Gordon is relaxed. Is he sure he's writing for the bit of the paper that he wants to be in? It's all for a programme: Coke Zero Presents: Wayne Rooney's Street Striker is unmissable telly. Isn't it [...]
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
WKND PLYLST!! This has nothing to do with NEW MOON!
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
Bobby B's Top 50 Albums Of The Decade (#25-21)
Tila Tequila NSFW UStream Freak Out (Video)
