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Sonic Youth’s amazingly provocative and complicated album from 1986, “EVOL,” (love spelled backwards) is my favorite of all SY’s albums. All the songs have their strong points, and all are dark and moody in some way.
But “Star Power” is especially strong. From the swirling guitars to the saturated bass lines, the band really nails the coffin shut with this one. Kim Gordon’s vocals are growly and grainy, and when she sings lyrics like these, the mixture of admiration and jealousy the singer has for the subject are all the more potent:
Burning down in the night
Supercool its alright
She knows how to make love to me
She knows how to make love
Close my mind when I think of you
Everything turns black to blue
Starpower starpower starpower
Over me
This is a rad video from 1986:
Sonic Youth: Star Power
Click the above link
Sonic Youth: Star Power
“I Want You To Know” available now!
Go to the site so they can track!!!
Hahahaha. This is one of the dumbest things i’ve ever read. I mean, how could BRANDON FLOWERS think so highly of himself? How could anyone think of themselves this highly? He thinks he’s better and more deserving than Nirvana AND LED ZEPPELIN? That’s so wack.
Yeah sure, the Killers can write a pop hit, but they don’t have much to say do they? Are they pushing any boundaries? Nope.
He’s probably spouting nonsense like this for publicity, and it’s working! Can you hear me chocking over there in England, Brandon?
I can’t help but feel badly for Brooklyn’s Chairlift, a decent, if silly, band that moved to a major (Columbia). They’re about to go on tour with The Killers. Is this their punishment from the karma gods??
OK- if they were my favorite band, or even a band I sorta wanted to see live, I would be soooooo pumped right now. Stuck on a boat off the shores of New York City, hearing a band, drinking booze?? Woo hoo!!
BUT, problem is, Passion Pit just aren’t that good. To be fair, i’ve only heard a couple of the new songs off “Manners,” out on May 19, but I have the EP, and only a couple of those songs are any good. “Sleepyhead,” the band’s big hit is definitely a crowd pleaser, but one song won’t cut it…
I saw them play two shows at CMJ in the fall and I thought they were cute and fun. But then I saw them play at Glasslands in December and it was so meh I can’t even explain it. Oh, and the crowd was really annoying too.
That said, this boat show sounds fucking awesome. Passion Pit fans are peeing in their pants, RIGHT NOW.
I loooooved Saved by the Bell. Remember when they go to Hawaii???
Angel Deradoorian, who provides one of the angelic voices in Dirty Projectors, is releasing a solo EP on Tuesday and to celebrate, she’s having a CD release party/show at The Cake Shop that night around 11.
The “Mind Raft” EP is “5 gothed out psych tracks for you to do drugs to,” says Angel on her MySpace blog. Alright!!! No but seriously, the songs are really spooky, and her vocals are great. Check it out.
She only has one other date scheduled, May 10 at the Bell House. That show has a great line-up: Chairlift and Takka Takka included.
The DP’s new album is out soon and she’ll probably be on the road with that for awhile. What a great show it would be if Angel and her drug music opened for Dave Longstreth and his drug/brainy music….Hmmmmm.
Here’s the link to some pics of the DP’s in Manchester. Thanks to Drowned in Sound for posting.
Peter Fonda as Captain America
A newly restored 35 mm print of Easy Rider is playing for one week only starting tomorrow at the Film Forum in Greenwich Village in conjunction with the 40th Anniversary of the film’s release. Hands down one of the best films ever made, ER is also one of the more provocative films made about a generation. It shows freewheeling “youth” and hippie-commune culture in a favorable light but doesn’t give anything a rosy glow. Also, the soundtrack. Oh, the soundtrack.
The film is well known and loved for it’s cinematography and sound editing in particular. There are certain scenes in the film where the sound cuts out almost completely and sun and colors are used to transmit vibes. This is a tough thing to do without sound. But it’s done very well.
And it’s dark, this is not a party happy-time film. It shows America’s beauty and sadness.
Check this:
(via thebockingfordkid)
By Andy
In addition to having one of the best mustaches in the music biz (sorry Freddie Mercury), Lee Hazelwood was also responsible for one of the weirdest and best psychedelic pop songs of the 60s. “Some Velvet Morning” was Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra at their best: crooning lyrics, soaring strings, ominous, dark alley bass.
The song is about….well, I dunno really know what the fuck it’s about. Acid probably. Or Kent State. Or, um, women’s lib? At least Sinatra’s part seems like a nice slice of LSD pie, dripping with liquid flowers and candy colored sunshine. Lee’s part is more dreadful, more like junkie promises and hostile sexuality. “Some velvet morning when I’m straight, I’m gonna open up your gate, and maybe tell you about Phaedra.” Who’s this Phaedra bitch? And how’d she give you light, Lee? A light of your smoke? Or the light of reason?
(The Inter-net tells me Phaedra is some ancient Greek hottie who was all tied up in some snooze-fest of a story about rape, suicide, murder and Aphrodite. Booo-ring.)
Most interesting thing about this song, though, is how many shit bands covered it over the years in their feeble grasps at relevance. Everyone from Vanilla Fudge to Lydia Lunch (actually, old Lydia’s version was pretty kickass, full of fuck-off sneering) to Primal Scream. Even some British doom metal band, My Dying Bride, gave it a shot.
Hazelwood, who died in ’07, has a granddaughter named Phaedra Dawn. Draw your own conclusions. Nancy Sinatra, however, is still alive and not returning my phone calls.
Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra – Some Velvet Morning
(Click the above link)
Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra – Some Velvet Morning
(NOTE: Pic above NOT from Chicago)
These guys seem really fresh- and are playing the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night. Check out the pics from their Chicago show….
