Since Billie Joe tweeted earlier this week about a new secret show Thursday, fans have been running amok with speculation, including yours truly. And when someone spotted Billie Joe on a plane heading to Austin, and then Tre on 6th street, I got REALLY excited. Apparently some Green Day-related art has been posted on 6th, and so everyone I know is checking venue calendars and calling promoters. Shit is bananas right now.
It’s not official whether the show is in actually here in Austin tomorrow night, but you can bet I’ll be checking the Internet probably every ten minutes. Friends in moderately high places have speculated venues like Stubb’s, Emo’s East, East Side Drive In, and ACL Live. The last one is a good bet, in my opinion, since there’s a swanky new hotel just above it. But I honestly have no clue. When I do, you can bet I’ll be camping out to grab a spot. If I miss Green Day in a small venue in the ATX, I will never forgive myself.
In the meantime, here’s a taste of things to come.
JT’s sophomore solo album was miles different from the R&B-influenced debut Justified. Â For one, it was dirtier, sexier, raunchier. Â Timberlake had all but washed himself clean of the boy band label he had established in ‘NSync, and on the other side was a sharp dressed man with smart production and crisp, Prince-leaning erotic pop. Â The surprisingly simple, yet undeniably infectious “SexyBack,” the album’s first single, is producer Timbaland at some of his most creative, and catchy, creations.
Happy Friday! Tonight at midnight, the government may very well shut down because the GOP wishes to throw women’s rights under the bus. Surprise! Â Here’s a mix I’ve compiled in celebration of our country’s (and our economy’s) impending doom.
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
60. Andrew WK – Party Hard
I love how everyone initially detested this guy, as if I Get Wet wasn’t the most awesome thing they had ever heard ever. Pitchfork, in their infinite indie wisdom, called this frat boy rock, which it probably is, in all truth, and gave it a 4.0. Of course, years later, it made their best-of list for the decade. Most people reneged on Andrew because you just can’t deny badassery, especially when it’s delivered in a completely earnest (but slightly exaggerated), multi-instrumental fashion. “Party Hard” is the intro message WK seeks to deliver, and as history has shown, it’s anything but novelty.
This year I made the big move from Lubbock to Austin, and the transformation has done wonders for my live music fix. I should have been writing down all the awesome bands I saw this year (and the years before, for that matter) but alas, hindsight, she is 20/20 once again. I think this post covers the highlights more or less, however. There’s plenty of great live music I saw this year that I’m leaving out, but after the jump, in no particular order, are twelve of the best shows I witnessed in 2010, eleven of them right here in the Live Music Capital of the World.
And for the record, I wanted to put the Sleigh Bells show on here, as fun as it was once they finally started playing, but everyone who attended knows Beauty Bar is at fault for that show’s omission. What a disaster.
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.
-Sure, we’ve all walked 6th Street and heard the live bar bands playing Journey endlessly, but the Spazmatics have taken it to a whole new, marketable, and sad level. A great diatribe on the way bands ruin the great name of Austin.
As expected, last night Green Day stole the show in Chicago, performing well over the park’s curfew and giving every Lollpalooza ticket holder their money’s worth and then some. It’s doubtful Soundgarden will be able to top it tonight. Consequence of Sound has the rave review and more coverage of the day.
