ThePhoenix.com's editorial staff was found cowering under its desks this afternoon after pre-teen fans of the kidz-bopping pop band Jonas Brothers launched an all-out flame war against the site, many screaming in ALL-CAPS and threatening to crash the servers -- all this because editors added Kevin, the eldest Jonas Bro, to the site's annual list of the 100 Unsexiest Men in the World. Here's what ThePhoenix.com had to say about Kevin:

[20] KEVIN JONAS AGING BOY-BANDER This past year, young Nick Jonas was rumored to be dating Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus. Which quickly led to a rumor that perhaps Miley was dating his brother Joe on the side. One thing it didn’t lead to? A rumor that she was dating Kevin. That’s because the oldest and least talented of the three Jonas Bros. is a doofus, red-headed stepchild to his sizzling siblings. Add up other less-talented musical brothers Dennis Wilson, Tito Jackson, and Dave Davies, then divide by the square root of Danny Bonaduce, and you begin to get the not-so-pretty picture.

In response, the Jonas Brothers' legendary fan community has lit up the Unsexy poll with over 1000 comments in less than 36 hours, once again proving to be one of the largest threats on teh webternet. If you don't believe us, imagine a couple million incensed tweens wired on Dr. Pepper, armed with typing skillz honed by hours and hours of daily OMG txt-messaging. "Kevin Jonas is achieving ultimate success with thousands of legal hotties just begging to get in his pants," said one female fan. (Alas, unless Kevin converts to some cultish offshoot of Mormonism, these legal hotties will all be out of luck, since Kevin's pants are saving themselves for marriage).

"SO YOUR MAKING FUN OF HIM BECAUSE HES 20 YEARS OLD THAT DOSNT MAKE ANY SENSE!!!!!!" shouted another commenter. "O AND BTW THATS CALLED DISCRIMINATION AND ITS FROWNED UPON VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Following this post, futures in the exclamation-point trade hit record highs. Officials at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination said that discriminating against 20-year-olds was not a prosecutable offense, but added that "If you were dumb enough to piss off the Jonas mafia, you're getting exactly what you deserve." Touche, sirs.  

Other fans attempted to take ThePhoenix.com to school. "This 'untalented' rocker is one of THE best guitarists i have EVER heard," said one commenter. "And also, he is SO dedicated, wen he was first learning the guitar, he was staying home, because he was sick...and then he pretended to be sick JUST so he could practice more...another thing...KEVIN IS MUFASA, yeah, He's king of the land, he'll come smack you with the back of his hand!"

After several hours of research, thePhoenix.com's legendary fact-checking department confirmed that Kevin Jonas is indeed Mufasa. Simba and Sarabi, however, could not be reached for comment. If you want to keep tabs on the Jonas Army's assault on the Phoenix, just click below:

LINK: Kevin Jonas named in Top 20 of World's Unsexiest Men

3/28/2008 1:28:16 PM by On the Download | Comments [2] |  

Caribou (aka, Dan Snaith, the self-taught, math pro, psychedlic-obsessed Canadian musician we interviewed recently) loves his light projections. Below, see photos from last night's Caribou show at the Dise. Snaith's self-created, kaleidoscopic light projections led to even trippier photos, and I increased the level of color-smashed artiness in Photoshop to make 'em extra far out for ya. Enjoy, and watch for Will Spitz's review of the show, coming soon.

Caribou at the Paradise Rock Club, March 26, 2008
All photos by Caitlin E. Curran

--Caitlin E. Curran

3/27/2008 1:20:09 PM by Will | Comments [0] |  

As recent history suggests, internet arguments about Boston DJs can turn pretty damn ugly. Allow us to introduce a more civil form of combat: the 2008 WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll. Advantages? No name-calling. No unsubstatiated accusations of train-wrecking. No people-fake-posting-as-other-people. And, we promise, no Rick rolls. Instead, just click here and tell us who you think is best. Or, if you need to get familiar, start downloading below.

Brief intros for the uninitiated: Upstart Die Young has gotten multiple nods from Diplo, who as you may have heard (or clicked to in the last graf) posted a couple of his mixes on the Mad Decent blog. This is the BMP debut of Chris Devlin, who moved here last year after making his name with Philly/B-More party kings Spank Rock. The DJ/production duo Plus Move have established themselves as America’s answer to the filter-metal aesthetic championed by French party-rockers Justice and the Ed Banger label. Red Foxx and Baltimoroder are veterans of Hearthrob and Thunderdome, the city’s two wildest party nights. And DJ/scholar/blogger Joseph Colbourne remains one of the city’s smartest disco/house/funk/soul champions.

Baltimoroder:

DOWNLOAD: Baltimoroder, Pan-Am Promo Mix (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Alter Ego v. Lil Keke, "Ghost Musick (Baltimoroder Remix)" (mp3)

Joseph Colbourne:

DOWNLOAD: Joseph Colbourne, Galactic Fractures Set (mp3)

Chris Devlin:

YOUTUBE: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hxmS9GQCyNk
DOWNLOAD: Chris Devlin & Pretty Titty, Sink or Swim Mix (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Fabricfree: The Mr. Devlin Bonus Mix (mp3)

DJ Die Young:

DOWNLOAD: Die Young & Volvox, Minimal Mix (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Die Young & Etan, Angry Adequate Mix (mp3)

Red Foxx:

DOWNLOAD: Nid And Sancy, "My Rave (Slutt Don't Fuck Remix)" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Ursula 1000, "Kaboom (Red Foxxworth Remix)" (mp3)

Plus Move:

DOWNLOAD: Plus Move, Are People Real Mix (mp3)

3/27/2008 8:35:26 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

The Ontario-born, London-dwelling, math-whiz musician Dan Snaith has been kicking around the electronic music world since 2000, when he released an EP called People Eating Fruit, under the moniker Manitoba. Originally, music was a part-time gig, pursued on the side while Snaith taught and pursued a PhD in math. Just before earning that degree, he was forced to abandon his musical claim on Manitoba, when former Dictators frontman Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba decided to sue... even though, you know, Manitoba is the name of a Canadian province, and not just Handsome Dick’s. Luckily, Snaith got over it, and switched to Caribou after a meaningful LSD trip, then ditched math to make music his full-time job. His excellent, multi-instrumental 2007 album, Andorra (Merge), saw Snaith confidently wading into the world of 60s-referencing psych-pop music, and not in a bad way. He’ll play the Paradise with Fuck Buttons tonight, and he chatted with us last weekend, from the snowy roads of Canada (we meant to post this earlier, but we were held back by technical snafus - bummer!).

When asked about his political preferences in a recent interview with XXL magazine, DMX admitted he didn’t know who Barack Obama was. Do you consider yourself well-informed, in terms of world news?

That’s definitely shocking to me. I’m not the most informed, but I definitely can confirm I’ve heard of Barack Obama. If he hasn’t heard of Barack Obama he probably hasn’t heard of previous political leaders in the past decade or so.

You may be sick of this question, but there’s an obvious transition from psych-electronica to psych-pop on your latest album, Andorra. How did this come about?

It was one conscious decision to switch styles. In the past my music has been made by building loops on top of one another. I wanted to make pop songs with big melodies and not just a hypnotic kind of music. The last 3 of the 4 albums have been psych influenced. I like the ambition and the scope, big headspace music, rather than the stripped down post punky kind of sound. Im kind of a record nerd, so I’ve got piles of obscure psych rock bands that I might only like one or two tracks from. This last record, the Zombies were a big influence – they do this baroque psych pop –  and they embodied a lot of what I wanted to do. That’s probably something that won’t continue. I’ve done what I wanted to do with that.

You studied and taught math for several years, but now you’re a full-time musician. Have you always juggled the two? Now that music is your full-time gig, do you ever miss math?

I‘m a nerd, and I just love learning about things so I ended up learning about both music and math. But there came a time when I had to make a decision. I’ve always wanted to be a musician. I don’t really miss math – I never do mathematics at all since I got my PhD. I grew up in such a mathematic environment -  almost everyone in my family has a math degree -  so I don’t feel entirely away from it.

Technically Caribou is your solo project; music created while you were holed up in your bedroom. But for live shows, you perform with other musicians. Why?

There’s four of us on stage. I do everything on the records myself. Doing it all day everyday is sort of something that makes more sense on my own, but the live thing is different - it’s better when it’s very much a collaboration.

Your albums are amalgams of instruments and sounds. How many instruments do you play personally?

I’d probably only say that I play piano well, but that’s an open ended question. Other instruments [on the album], I learn enough to get what I want out of them.

When did you start writing music?

I started playing piano when I was 5 but it didn’t really consume me till I switched teachers at 13 or 14, and they started to emphasize improvisation, and understanding how music fits together. It was a weird little town that I grew up in. The kids were into Rush and Yes, or the Grateful Dead so I was into that. But I was also into Aphex Twin, so my high school band was this terrible car crash of the two things. It sounded like a teenage misindulgence in music. But it was a good starting point in learning how to make music.

LISTEN: Caribou on MySpace

--Caitlin E. Curran

3/26/2008 6:02:57 PM by Will | Comments [0] |  

This week in the Phoenix, Susannah Bolle remembers Boston critic and DJ Tim Haslett, who passed away earlier this month. After we went to press, we got the following from Check the Technique author Brian Coleman, who'll be hosting a tribute to Haslett tonight at Enormous Room. Drop by if you can...

Tim and I did a radio show for years on WZBC (starting in '92) and we also did a fairly longstanding gig at the Linwood Grille, way back before it was even booking entertainment, really. We used to go record shopping constantly, at flea markets, used furniture stores and even the occasional record store. I've never met anyone as passionate about music. I can't believe he's gone. All day I have been remembering things about him. The way he would squint and make ridiculous hand gestures when he loved a song. His ridiculous vocabulary and how he knew just how to use it. How he would never shut up about music and how that was fucking awesome that he never shut up about it. It really really saddens me that he's gone.

I wanted to let you know that I talked to the Beat Research guys last night and they are going to let me and anyone else who knew and loved Tim take the night over this coming Monday (the 24th). Just spinning all the records he loved, from all genres. Might you be able to stop by and bring some wax that you know he loved? Can you send the word out to anyone else you know who might want to come by and hang out or spin. I suppose I'll be leading the evening but it's really up for anyone to do anything they want, to pay tribute to a great man. He taught me a lot too, in fact I'm not even sure if I would have become a writer if it wasn't for him. He was the first dude who ever told me that it was worth doing - to cross over from being a fan to taking that next step.

Tim touched a lot of people and I hope that many of them can show up on Monday and make a joyous noise (and shake some bassbins along the way).

3/24/2008 4:45:54 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Mountain Goats, "Sign of the Crow (Live at the Museum of Fine Arts)


Mountain Goats, "Ain't Living Long Like This (Rodney Crowell cover, Live at the Museum of Fine Arts)


Mountain Goats, "Heretic Pride (Live at the Museum of Fine Arts)"

Mountain Goats w/ the Moaners
Live at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston
March 14, 2008

Moaners: two gals from Chapel Hill doing it Doo Rag style. Totally face-melting. We forgot how much we used to love bottleneck-slide-guitar-Fred McDowell-style punk rawk. For a couple years in the '90s there were like dozens of bands like this crawling around Memphis. Fuck. There is a conspicuous lack of mp3s or video of these ladies hanging around the internet. Unfortunately, we will not be adding to the record on that count. Maybe some other time.

However: we got some exclusive, new Mountain Goats stuff. At top: "Sign of the Crow," a great this-generation-is-fucked song that John Darnielle says he wrote three weeks ago in a hotel room in Alaska. Below that: "Ain't Living Long Like This" a Rodney Crowell blues that Darnielle got a hankering to play while hanging out in the dressing room, despite the fact that he'd never played it live before. At bottom: the full-band MTNGTS powers through the title track from their new "Heretic Pride."

We were thinking about the sudden appearance of that Crowell tune a few days after this show, when Darnielle announced he was cancelling an upcoming Australian tour for unspecified "personal medical reasons": "If it weren't serious, I would be leaving for Oz next week, believe me," he wrote on the Mountain Goats site. "You'll be doing me a great favor if you keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and if you know in your heart that I don't play around in doing right by the people I love: I will be back to make this up to you." Aussies, hope the above will whet your appetite for the time being.

3/22/2008 11:26:11 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Sequel albums can be suspect: just ask Metallica fans if anyone liked Re-Load better than Load. But the Dresden Dolls' hastily-arranged No, Virginia -- a followup to their Yes, Virginia -- has a couple of things going for it. The Dolls are due for a rarities disc, anyway, and rather than just limit the scope to recent B-sides, they're tossing in some old-school nuggets (including a demo from their brief stint as a four-piece), some choice covers (including their previously released cover of "Pretty In Pink"), and five new songs: "Dear Jenny," "Night Reconaissance," "Ultima Esperanza," "Sorry Bunch," and "The Sheep Song." For local pride, the closer is a song called "Boston." The record's due May 20 on Roadrunner. This song, however, will not be on it.

Can't help but wonder, though, if Yes, Virginia is a contractual obligation: Amanda's got Who Killed Amanda Palmer, her solo record, in the can; and following her recent vocal-cord surgery, she's starting to roll out some high-profile solo dates. The first and biggest, of course, is the Phoenix's Best Music Poll Concert on May 10 at BOA Pavilion (tix on sale tomorrow), where she's the penultimate act underneath Death Cab for Cutie. After that, she'll follow in the footsteps of her pal Ben Folds (who produced her solo disc) by playing a gig with the Boston Pops as her backing band. In that regard, she's got a lot to live up to: Folds's gig with the Pops resulted in the first fistfight at the Symphony that anyone can remember.

3/21/2008 9:23:43 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

So, Best Music Poll is a little thing we do with our brothers and sisters over at FNX every year, as yet another way of drumming up bragging rights for local rock/rap/pop/jazz/dj/etc supremacy. It's a time-honored tradition to bitch about who got nominated, talk shit about how your favorite band is way better, and stuff the ballot box for the Dresden Dolls -- or at least, that's what we do in-house. But the voting is also open to you fine people, and the general idea is Grammy-like, in that it's a process of dubious scientific value that produces great publicity for everyone involved, and is generally an excuse for us to throw parties, bring in huge bands, sprinkle the internet with great mp3s, and cause a ruckus. In other words: a real good time.

Past BMP concerts have been pure insanity. Usually we shut down Lansdowne Street and pack every club, as well as an outdoor stage, and then we throw an even bigger gig over at the Pavilion. This year, with Lansdowne Street temporarily a construction zone, we thought we might end up with a slightly less antic affair, since it's just the big stadium-rocking Pavilion show. Then they decided to book Amanda Palmer. Amanda, you may recall, has this weird thing where she turns into a batshit stripper whenever she gets within eyesight of a BMP logo. So who the fuck knows. Also on the bill: Death Cab for Cutie, Bob Mould, Presidents of the United States of America (still together: who knew?). Last year, we also added more than bragging rights to Best Music Poll: we gave out the opening slots to a bunch of the winners. This year that'll continue: two of the winning bands will open the Pavilion gig. So start clicking; your favorite bands will thank you later. Tickets for the Best Music Poll Concert, May 10 at the BOA Pavilion, go on sale this Saturday at 10 am.

For our money, the best category in the whole poll is Best New Artist: some of us think that this year's Best New Aristist nominees are actually way better than the bands nominated for Best Local Act. But this is no one dude's poll, so feel free to tell us how fucking wrong we are on all counts: there's a write-in option for every category, which means if someone wants to stuff the ballotbox for Tunnel of Love, Turpentine Bros, or Motherboar, we won't be mad at you.

In any case, let's kick off what we hope will be a running argument about who the best new band in town is, defined loosely as "a band that hasn't been nominated for anything in Best Music Poll before." You can jump right to that category here, or just point your browser to www.bestmusicpoll.com anytime you please.

DOWNLOAD: Drug Rug, "Day I Die" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit, "Sleepy Head" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Pretty & Nice, "Grab Your Nets" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Tulsa, "Shaker" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Wild Light, "New Hampshire" (at MySpace)

3/20/2008 4:33:18 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

 

 

Above: new snaps of the Courtney Love-sanctioned Kurt Cobain-model Chuck Taylors, due in May, first in a collection that'll be drawing on art from the Cobain diaries. According to the Nirvana Internet Fan Club: "To further pay tribute to the late singer, three of the Converse shoes that Cobain was often seen wearing will be reflected in the new collection which includes versions of Chuck Taylor All Star, Jack Purcell and One Star shoes." Kurt's shoes! On you! Right down to the wear-and-tear: according to the Converse people, they'll be "distressed in the way Cobain wore them." The sneakers, that is. Hopefully, the wearer will not be compelled to take heroin, write awesome songs, and then shoot himself in the face. Preliminary research suggests Converse should quickly retire the phrase "distressed in the way Cobain wore them." Several people we emailed the press release to expressed dismay at the phrase (and the concept), then promptly sent us links to this photo: evidently Kurt wore his One Stars until the very end. Of course, after he got to heaven he switched brands:

3/18/2008 4:23:02 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

DOWNLOAD: Aloud, "Fan the Fury" (mp3)

It might not seem that much has changed between Aloud’s debut full-length, Leave Your Light On, and their sophomore album, Fan the Fury. The band still traffic in bluesy power pop, which still centers on the guy-girl lead vocals of childhood chums/collaborators Henry Beguiristain and Jen de la Osa. But now the hooks are bigger, the lyrics smarter, and the arrangements tighter. The title track starts with de la Osa bellowing over a dirty toms-and-tambo groove before it folds in on itself, giving way to an airy, ride-cymbal-driven bridge and de la Osa’s vocals turning uncharacteristically gentle. Then, just as things start getting comfy, the band slide back into the hot grease of the song’s first half. They celebrate the album's release at Great Scott March 20.

3/12/2008 6:33:36 PM by Will | Comments [0] |  

What goes around (goes around, goes around) comes all the way back around

We have no idea who pitched who on having the Stooges covering Madonna's "Burning Up" at the RNRHOF induction last night, but we want to have this person inducted into the Rock N Roll hall of fame, and quickly. Ironically, we missed this live last night because we were watching a rerun of last year's "Fashion Rocks," on which the Stooges play "I Wanna Be Your Dog" -- and, later on the same show, the Gossip turn the end of their "Yr Mangled Heart" into an impromtu disco cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog." (Beth Ditto, prefacing the song: "Madonna said 'Express Yourself'; Morrissey said, 'Accept Yourself'; and RuPaul said, 'You Gotta Work.'") There's no real musical irony here at all. Madonna's original demo version of "Burning Up" made it abundantly clear, even moreso than the official version, that it was more or less a punkish new-wave tune -- which is one reason that punks can't resist covering it. (Said punks include the man playing bass in the Stooges last night -- Mr. Mike Watt, who previously covered "Burning Up," as well as "Into the Groove," with Sonic "Ciccone" Youth back in 1986. Sonic Youth, of course, were also known to cover "I Wanna Be Your Dog.") More to the point, one of the revelations of Madge's return to touring a couple years ago was that she was learning to play guitar -- or at least learning to play just enough that she could sneak into the set a version of "I Love New York" that quotes explicitly from (wait for it) "I Wanna Be Your Dog," in which song she also tended to scream, Iggy-like, things such as "Fuck off!" and "Go suck George Bush's dick!" We hope someone gets a better clip of the Stooges' Madonna set on YT quickly. And someone should get the live tracks added to iTunes or something. Kthxbai!

Stooges, "Burnin Up (Live 2008)." (With Horatio Sans on guitar? And Madonna, in the front row, suddenly realizing that this is awful close to what she's going to look like in 15 years?)

Gossip, "Yr Mangled Heart/I Wanna Be Your Dog" (Live 2007)

Madonna, "I Love New York/I Wanna Be Your Dog" (Live 2006)

3/11/2008 3:19:39 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Today, YouTube has baptized itself as Sigur Róstube: all Sigur Rós, all day. The whole darn homepage is all Sigur Rós videos. So, you can take a break from watching Cat of 1000 Faces, Chris Crocker looking more and more bonkers, and that whole viral Yes We Can thing, and get all contemplative and dramatic with everyone's favorite Icelandic band (tied with Björk/The Sugarcubes, obv), staring into space and pondering life's worth to fan-made videos for "með blóðnasir." Take that, Barack! And you thought St. Patrick's Day was the next big holiday!

As an added bonus, if you missed the December Kendall screening of Heima, which Sigur Rós describes thusly: "Filmed over two weeks during the summer of 2006 when the band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in Iceland. They hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something, well, inspirational," you can catch all 97 minutes of it on YT today as well. We'll get you in the mood with a few choice Sigur Ros clips:

3/7/2008 1:25:04 PM by Caitlin | Comments [0] |  

Good news for the under-21 crowd (or anyone tiring of the Middle East - if that's even possible). Before Lyons and co. open up Boston's House of Blues, Berklee's beating them to the punch with a shiny new all-ages "200-person capacity concert venue, featuring high-end PA and lighting systems, video and DVD capabilities" on Boylston Street. The cafe's actually been there since December, but the live music aspect will be a new addition. From the inbox:

"Berklee College of Music presents Cafe 939, a state-of-the-art, all-ages, student-run music venue and coffee house. Located at 939 Boylston Street, adjacent to the Cactus Club, Cafe 939 will showcase Berklee?s emerging student talent, local artists, as well as national acts seeking a more intimate, personal space in which to perform and connect with their fans. Cafe 939 is open to the general public and hopes to attract musicians and music fans from all walks of life. While most rooms in Boston have a specific musical niche, Cafe 939 will embrace nearly any style, from rock, jazz, folk, and world, to bluegrass, hip-hop, electronica, avant-garde, and beyond.

'We don't care if you play the saw, accordion, or electric sitar, as long as you're good, this could be the room for you,' says Jacqueline Indrisano, Cafe 939 event manager. 'We want this to be a place where all are welcome and anything can happen.'"

The Cafe's opening event will be a performance by Puerto Rican sax player Miguel Zenón, on April 2.

3/6/2008 5:20:27 PM by Caitlin | Comments [0] |  

DOWNLOAD: Township, "Sandy" (mp3)

It’s been just less than a year since Township cemented their place in Boston rock history, joining the ranks of the Neighborhoods, the Dresden Dolls, and, uh, Slaughter Shack with a victory in the 29th Rock ’n’ Roll Rumble. And now, as local message-boarders squabble over this year’s just-announced Rumble line-up, Township have finally quenched the thirst of the so-called “Townies” — the band’s fans, who have been patiently snacking on the band’s Ladywood EP in anticipation of a full-length — with the release of Coming Home. “Sandy,” like most Township songs, looks back to the ’70s, and what it finds is the jaunty shuffle and the guitarmonies of “The Boys Are Back in Town,” over which frontman Marc Pinansky waxes optimistic about a troubled relationship.

3/5/2008 7:07:52 PM by Will | Comments [0] |  

Gnarls Barkley news abounds today. First, the oh-so-predictable happened: the album, aptly titled The Odd Couple, leaked. Yawn. Call us when a hugely anticipated follow-up album doesn't leak. (Actually, Atmosphere might be able to pull it off. A recent e-mail from their publicist informed us that the only way for reviewers to listen to their newest record, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, is to head to one of the SXSW listening parties, or travel to Independent Label Group's offices in NYC. That's the kind of extreme leak prevention Always is talking about in those gross blue liquid test commercials.) Today, NME is reporting that GB's video for "Run," the first single from The Odd Couple, has been banned from MTV (huge bummer, because now we'll have nothing to watch for the 45 minutes around 4 am or so, when MTV actually plays videos, except for the latest Rihanna song craze or whatever). From NME:

"It was deemed that the video for 'Run', which features a cameo appearance from Justin Timberlake, may trigger epileptic seizures with its strobe-like effects.

'I don't know exactly what's going on, but we're having issues,' Danger Mouse told Billboard. 'I think (the video) is cool. It works for me. But I'm not necessarily that easily seasick.'"

The video's still everywhere online - including above, should we be posting a disclaimer or something? - so it's not really a huge blow for the craaazzzyy duo - if anything, everyone's rushing to YouTube now to watch the Timberlake-a-licious video, and then thinking really hard about whether they feel dizzy or anything. We just watched it and we feel ok - the song itself has all of the addictive deliciousness we hoped Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere follow-up would have, and pairs well with a frantic dance party - but we're no experts on photogenic or photosensitive epilepsy. But, on a sensory level, it's nothing like some of the crazy light and sound performances we caught a few weeks ago in Amsterdam (and we've been looking for an excuse to blog about), which also came with a disclaimer for those with epilepsy. A few photos:







The images above are from an experimental light/sound performance at an art gallery in Amsterdam, and a few nights later we experienced something similar at a packed, multi-level club called Paradiso. It was the tail end of the Sonic Acts festival, and the final act of the night, an italian multimedia artist called Tez, used "flickering video, in the form of abstract lights and color gradients, coupled with synchronized synthetic sounds, distributed in a surround quadrophonic system," which, in more understandable terms, means glaring, shifting lights projected on a screen, and software-manipulated sounds leaking from extremely loud speakers - there was a large sign measuring the decibel levels. It was simultaneously totally strange and totally engaging - and maybe just a bit overwhelming. Who knew there was a connection between Italian experimental sonic weirdness, and American dance-pop?

3/5/2008 5:07:54 PM by Caitlin | Comments [0] |  

Brian Viglione's Ghost kit

As the world comes to grips with Trent Reznor's Ghosts I-V -- a recording project that refines the In Rainbows model of pay-what-you-will, with Nine Inch Nails recordings now being rolled out the way that, say, General Motors rolls out its fall lines, with budget cars for the masses and gas-guzzling, ltd-ed hardcover luxury boxes for the rich kids -- we also couldn't help but notice that Trent's former tourmate, Dresden Doll Brian Viglione, showed up in the credits. This morning, Brian elaborates on the sessions in an email sent to the Dolls fan list: above, a photo of the trash kit he assembled in a morning from Home Depot. Blow-by-blow reporting from Brian's diary can be found here.

3/4/2008 7:43:27 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |