November 22, 2008
Paste's year end list raised some eyebrows yesterday, and we expect this countdown to do the same, despite its predictable top spot. Blender's 33 favorites share ten with Paste's 50, but represent a more diverse array of styles, for better (Ponytail, Erykah Badu) or worse (that's Katy Perry above, not Zooey Deschanel). Thanks to reader JTO3 for transcribing the list from a copy of the Dec/Jan issue he made sure to point out was given to him as a gift.
Continue reading Blender's Top 33 Of 2008...
Posted at 12:34 PM by Scott in
latest by Tom
Stream Killers' Day & Age • MySpace had a busy week with Kanye and GN'R listening parties, but there's one more high-profile release to preview before Black Friday comes. Check out the Killers' third album here, then come back and participate in our premature evaluation. (Said one commenter, "This album sounds like a really long, really crappy European ringtone.")
latest by parker young
No Doubt Touring, Recording In '09 • Gwen Stefani has reclaimed her bandmates from Weiland and is ready to rock. (She gave birth only three months ago, too.) An animated IM session between No Doubt members on their official site has Gwen typing, "Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. I think that if we go on tour it will inspire us to write." More at nodoubt.com.
latest by Anonymous
November 21, 2008
The Killers did good with Hot Fuss, their flashy debut of hooky Vegas new wave. Their look and glitzy synth tones were dialed directly into Indie '04, and after a few years of touring and fan base swelling, they talked big about the revolutionary nature of their sophomore effort. For all its strength, Hot Fuss wasn't any sort of grand conceptual statement, and somewhere along the way the Killers began craving grand conceptual statements. The Americana rock of Sam's Town wasn't an abject failure -- it spawned some of the band's best radio singles in "Read My Mind" and "When You Were Young" -- but as a whole, it felt clumsy and overproduced. The live debuts of material from Day & Age seemed to hint at less studio bloat. We quickly learned that wouldn't be entirely true.
Continue reading Premature Evaluation: The Killers - Day & Age...
Posted at 6:52 PM in
Tags: The Killers
latest by Charlamagne in Sweatpants
If you recall, always the wise guys, Radiohead outsourced In Rainbows video production duties via their Animated Video Contest. Finalists were announced, we saw one of them, and now we get to see more. Over the next three weeks, MySpace is premiering the three remaining fan-made videos for "Weird Fishes," "15 Step," and "Videotape." The first is Tobias Stretch's "Weird Fishes." Appropriately, it's weird and pretty. It might also be my favorite of all the In Rainbows a/v accompaniments.
Continue reading New Radiohead Video - "Weird Fishes" ...
Posted at 5:38 PM by brandon in
Tags: Radiohead
latest by bigtex
The year is wrapping up and it's time to celebrate: Stereogum had its fifth birthday this month, our sister site Videogum took its first steps earlier this year, and we've all been casting votes for the third annual Gummy Awards. We think all that deserves a party. You should join us.
Mark your calendars for Monday, 12/8 and come to the Music Hall Of Williamsburg to celebrate. Technically, this is a Gummy Awards Live event, but we won't be wasting time on stage announcing poll winners. Instead we've lined up a couple of great bands and some comedy from Videogum. On tap: 2008 artist to watch Bell; the lush, classy '60s-on-Lilys-on-New Romantic New York City pop group Violens; and headliner and album-of-the-year contenders Deerhunter. Bradford and band won't be in NYC again for awhile, so it might be good to catch 'em while you can.
The show's 16+, so invite your high school friends. Doors at 8, show at 9. Get your tix at Ticketmaster now, and tell Facebook if we'll see you there.
Posted at 5:00 PM in
Tags: Bell | Deerhunter | Violens
latest by joe
We've kept you updated regarding Brian Wilson's That Lucky Old Sun and connected live appearances. It's not very original of me to say witnessing Wilson 2008 can be painful -- for some reason, his performance on Conan last night struck me as especially rough. Maybe because he seems happy, but also generally confused. He never uses his keyboard. He just sorta raises his hands, feels the music. When Conan thanks him he seems confused. He looked more on top of things in the Black Cab, so maybe just an off day? Brian is clearly no longer one of the greatest singers of all time, which is sadly apparent following his performance of "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" when he and his Wondermints dig into "California Girls." You can watch it at Hulu.
Posted at 4:43 PM by brandon in
Tags: Beach Boys | Brian Wilson | The Wondermints
latest by Travis Lee Wiggins
Lost Gets Into The Fray • Last month Chris Cornell released a video that doubled as a commercial for ABC's Life On Mars. This week the Fray released a video that is also a trailer for the fifth season of ABC's Lost. Gabe at Videogum says, "This is way more effective than either the Three Doors Down/National Guard recruitment ad or the Kid Rock/Dale Earnhardt Jr. Army recruitment ad in making the case for why I should go to Iraq and have my face shot off." Ouch.
