The Obama Administration has (wisely) decided not to release a photo of the body of Osama Bin Laden.
A slew of artists came together for a badass upcoming tribute album to Buddy Holly. Listen to the Black Keys’ contribution here.
In what will hopefully be a shakedown to reform for college football, the Justice Department is demanding the NCAA explain the good of the BCS system.
Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Purity Ring – Loftcries
XV – Swervin (Clams Casino Remix)
Pony Pony Run Run – Hey You (Star Slinger Remix)
DJ Quik – Flow For Sale (feat. Kurupt)
Today, Transmission Entertainment announced they are moving Fun Fun Fun Fest, after five awesome years, from Waterloo Park to Auditorium Shores. I am not crazy thrilled about the move, frankly, and it isn’t because this past year I could walk to the park from my Central East Austin home (the walk will obviously be much farther this time around). No my complaint is intimacy. I don’t blame Transmission for wanting to earn more greenbacks; hell, a festival is a giant endeavor to partake. I really doubt the fest has turned a profit, even with a sold-out crowd last year. So selling more tickets (Waterloo Park’s full after 10,000 – Auditorium Shores can hold 30,000) will probably help turn the event out of the red.
And kudos to the FFF organizers for realizing the fest is growing and actually dealing with that. ACL is an overcrowded mess at Zilker Park, and will continue to be so until C3 does something about it. Auditorium Shores can accomodate for this smaller scale festival well.
But increased attendance is the problem. When I watched the Strokes play the Shores during SXSW, it was not an intimate experience. Simply put, there were too many fucking people there. And if that’s what Fun Fun Fun Fest is going to be like now, I’m afraid the festival’s best days are behind it. We all loved FFF because of a stellar lineup that we could actually see….we could get up close and watch the band and dance and hear the music, we could have quick access to bathroom facilities without walking a mile and a half. We could quickly grab a beer and get back to the show without falling over dickheads in patio chairs.
So I ask Transmission – is the new location gonna kill the Fun Fun Fun vibe? The fest I remember wasn’t even a smaller scale ACL (which is basically what a show at the Shores is like), it was an intimate experience with awesome bands on a completely different level. It was a stroll away from the afterparties on Red River. It was incredible. The Strokes show was fun, yeah, but, like ACL, I felt like I should have showed up an hour earlier if I wanted to actually see it without looking at the big screen. And if there’s a big screen, that means there’s likely little intimacy.
I’m not saying I won’t go. I go every year, and I’m curious to see what changes will be made in light of this location change. I’m just saying I’m not expecting much….and depending on how it goes this time around, this may be my last year at Fun Fun Fun. Maybe by then the Waller Creek Project will be taken care of and another fest can start up in Waterloo, where the real fun fun fun is.
And who knows? Maybe once November comes and goes, I will be eating these words/this post. I certainly hope so.
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
30. Johnny Cash – Hurt
Some artists are so talented they have the capability to make a cover song sound like their very own creation. Â The Beatles, Tom Waits, and, most recently, Lissie, come to mind. Â But no one did it like the Man In Black. Â Johnny took Soundgarden’s grunge-ridden “Rusty Cage” and made it a Wild West, gun slinging, outlaw affair. Â And then he took Nine Inch Nails’ haunting, spooky “Hurt” and turned it into a somber deathbed lamentation.
Today is They Might Be Giants Awareness Day! If you don’t know who They Might Be Giants are, a couple of things:
1) They are one of the most aweseomest bands on the planet.
2) Where have you been, dude? They’ve been around since, like, the early ’80s!
So anyway, get educated! Stream the new Join Us EP over at Spinner, and peep the videos below. And if you know about TMBG, spread the word! Today’s the day!
Continue reading
Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Foo Fighters – White Limo
Deerhunter – Nosebleed
Berner feat. Wiz Khalifa and Big K.R.I.T. – Yoko
Tyson – Out of My Mind (Star Slinger Remix)
Foo Fighters – Arlandria
How kickass is this new album? Dave Grohl and his motley crew have launched a loud, raucous comeback, with more energy and spirit than anything they’ve done in the past decade. Wasting Light hearkens back to the Foo’s glory days, with the post-grunge, melodic spirit of the late 90’s reigning supreme. This is the group’s sharpest work since the band’s first two records, the self-titled debut and the sophomore breakout The Colour and the Shape. At times it’s a Queens of the Stone Age-lite affair, not that there’s anything wrong with that; it’s about time Grohl let his Probot side show a little more in his paycheck band. Still, Foo is Foo, and the strong songwriting and all-out rock is in full force here. Without a doubt, 2011 is the year we take a step back from all the chamber pop, sappy electro schtick, egomaniacal overrated rappers, and drunk slut harlots and wonder, “Where did all the rock stars go?” There are few left in this day and age, but if Wasting Light is any indication, they’re still giving it all they’ve got.
