Culture Greyhound

The title says it all, my autumn is getting sweeter all the time.

Pixies @Austin Music Hall 9/22

Continue reading

Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.

180. Ok Go – Get Over It

Before they were Internet phenoms jumping around on treadmills, OK Go was a brilliant, quirky power pop group tearing up the mainstream rock radio airwaves.  “Get Over It,” the band’s debut single, is quite possibly the loudest, brashest, angriest thing they’ve ever done. And while they’ve maintained their knack for punchy, catchy songs, this track is a raucous introduction from their best album.

Continue reading

Deftones – “Sextape” (Official)

Deftones | MySpace Music Videos

Earlier this week, I gave accolades to Cleveland rocker Cloud Nothings.  Turns out the fine folks at Bridgetown Records are releasing a split album with him and another up-and-coming solo artist, California’s Kevin Greenspon.

The two go hand in hand – Greenspon is a punchier, youthful accompaniment to Cloud Nothings’ sharp sing-along garage rock, though the latter tackles a poppier approach on this release.  Bridgetown had this to say about the disc:

“The long-awaited split album between these 2 rising young solo artists opens with 5 new songs by Kevin Greenspon: California weirdo heartthrob pop punk about looking back on teenage years and losing it all. Cloud Nothings rounds out the disc with 5 more exclusive new songs: the Cleveland teenager takes his catchy brand of raw and distorted-beyond-the-red bedroom pop in a direction not seen in his “Turning On” album or subsequent tape/vinyl releases.”

The release is limited to 250 discs with full-color inserts and lyric sheets. They go on sale TODAY over at the label’s site, so get one while they’re still around.  Sample a track from both artists below.

Cloud Nothings – I Apologize

Kevin Greenspon – Post-Life

Cee Lo Green – Fuck You

source

Rollerskaters – Sleep Tight (Star Slinger Remix)

source

Colleen Green – Worship You

source

Restless People – Don’t Back Down

source

Games – Heartlands

source

Pitchfork has called him “Dilla-esque,” and that certainly is apt, but UK beat-maker Darren aka Star Slinger has more in his repertoire than just hip-hop. The influences of shoegaze, soul, funk, 80’s dream pop, and occasionally chillwave creep up in his beat-skipping tracks.  All in all, it’s hard to describe the sound of this Manchester resident, who began making music at the age of 14 after building his own computer specifically to produce beats.

Released in June, Volume 1, his first compilation, is a mix-and-match of all of the aforementioned styles – a wide, diverse serving of clipped, familiar samples, infectious melodies, and overpowering bass.  You can grab it at his Bandcamp site for free, as well as other mashups, remixes, and singles he has incessantly churned out this summer, all of which are highly recommended and pretty phenomenal.

Listen to a sampling below for a taste.  These are a few of my favorite Star Slinger tracks thus far.

Star Slinger – Minted

Star Slinger – Mornin’

Star Slinger – Longtime

Star Slinger – May I Walk With You

Coolrunnings – I Am You (Star Slinger Remix)

So Katy Perry has a new song.  And the only word I can come up with to accurately describe it is “atrocious.”  I feel it’s apt.  Let’s verify, shall we?

atrocious – adj. 1. shockingly bad or tasteless; dreadful; abominable

Yeah that sounds about right.  But don’t take my word for it.  Peep this, homie.

So let’s review:

“Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?
Don’t be a chicken boy, stop acting like a beeotch
I’ma peace out if you don’t give me the pay off
Come on baby let me see
What you’re hiding underneath”

and of course:

“I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock
Your peacock, cock
Your peacock, cock, cock
Your peacock”

So yeah, atrocious.  There was a time when sexuality was subtle, when camp was cute, when parents would turn the other cheek because their Top 40-loving kids probably wouldn’t understand the context of the double entendre until they turned 13 or 14.

I don’t remember that time.

But this is far from the worst thing the pop music world has given us, overtly sexual or otherwise.  Here are nine other lyrically atrocious examples – and I haven’t even scratched the surface of what the CHR world likes to consider “poetry” in our modern times.

Continue reading

As the song would suggest, the boys (and Pearl) are back in town – Thrift Store Cowboys have a new website, a new tour, and a new album.  It’s been four years, but October 12 is right around the corner, when Light Fighter, the Lubbock-based crew’s fourth full-length will drop.

I was lucky enough to be sent an advance copy of the new effort, and, well, it sounds like Thrift Store Cowboys.  But I dare you to find a soul that thinks that’s a bad thing.  The group’s trademark sound is intact, but the result this time around is more professional, the songwriting more memorably melodic, and the lyrics more introspective leader Daniel Fluitt’s weary, yet hopeful core.  A band that has already wowed so many continues to grow, with a fresh batch of instant classics and a pristine polish – as if these folks couldn’t sound even more like the soundtrack to a post-modern spaghetti western.  The new album is sure to please old faithful followers and rally up new troops.

The band is giving away an MP3 in support – you can grab it below, and I recommend you do.  “One Gentle Inch to Nine Violent Miles” is a nice introductory single to the new era – the perfect mix of the tumbleweed cinematic Americana the Cowboys have mastered, as well as a new, punchy kick of classic rock, reminiscent of Kings of Leon with cajones. The “Thin Lizzy twin guitar” wailing solo from Colt Miller and Cory Ames best captures the spotlight midway through.

Also, here’s a pretty sweet little video for another album cut, “Morning Weekend,” filmed right here in the greater Austin area (Kyle, TX, to be exact, at the badass mansion/studio hybrid Studio 1916).

1) Go to TSC’s new site for more media, new and classic, then

2) check the tour dates – chances are they’re coming to your town, and finally

3) mark your calendars for October 12.  It’s goin’ down.

I’ve posted about Cloud Nothings before – the Cleveland-based crew is easily one of my favorite emerging groups of 2010, and their “Didn’t You/Even If It Worked Out” 7-inch has been on repeat on the turntable here at home (that’s the cover above).

A couple of my dear friends, the Brooklyn-based Nervous Room Service, have been churning out some pretty excellent, albeit trippy, fan-made music videos for their musical projects and Cloud Nothings.  Their latest is a rapid-fire spliced collage for “You Are Opening.”

Cloud Nothings // You Are Opening from NervousRoomService on Vimeo.

But by far my favorite is the video for the upbeat “Even If It Worked Out.”

Cloud Nothings // Even if it Worked Out from NervousRoomService on Vimeo.

Check out all of Nervous Room Service‘s videos and be on the lookout for Turning On, the full-length from Cloud Nothings, on October 12.

Overall, 2010 has been an amazing year in the world of music.  My year-end list is swamped, and we’re not even into fall yet, where the majority of hyped and acclaimed releases are dropped.  But alas, like every hit-filled year, there are some misses.  I’ve listened to a lot of albums in 2010, and I’ve heard some fascinating work, some boring duds, and a few completely atrocious, “what were they thinking?” moments.  Sometimes we know what we’re getting into, but it hurts the worst when a highly-anticipated album does not impress.  Here are a few examples of albums from groups that failed to deliver this time around.

Continue reading