January 2012
2 posts
December 2011
1 post
November 2011
1 post
September 2011
1 post
Sitting at home on a Saturday night watching the U.S. Open and making a wedding dance party playlist. Want to help? What awesome songs should we play?
August 2011
1 post
July 2011
2 posts
“I know what the senator wants — what the senator wants is a loge, obvs.”
April 2011
2 posts
Least correctly answered song: "I Don't Want To... →
Best song on the album.
1 tag
March 2011
4 posts
SXSW Live on NPR Music →
Staying up late tonight to help get the streaming audio/video of the Time Out/NPR showcase at SXSW out into the world. Yuck/James Blake/Smith Westerns/Raphael Saadiq. Blake’s set starts in 10 minutes. If you’re not in Austin, come watch!
“… and someone named Delicate Steve.”
– The first time was funny; the second time was funny and weirdly comforting. I look forward to seeing how this running joke plays out. Nice, subtle work from Rob Harvilla.
January 2011
1 post
The Decemberists Score Their First Number One... →
rawkblog:
perpetua:
When I wrote this earlier I was astonished to learn that the Decemberists had managed to sell nearly five times as many copies of their new album in its first week than their previous record in its first week. Also, 65% of the units sold were digital albums, and Amazon was selling it for $3.99, which has to account for a pretty huge chunk of the overall sales. When Amazon...
December 2010
7 posts
“the brief explosion of schizocore, this thing where kids had beats drastically...”
– Matthew Fluxblog as SNL’s Stefon as your music blogger from the apocalypse.
“Lisa’s romantic complications come in two flavors: vanilla and butterscotch.”
– Without so much as a wink, Manohla Dargis sneaks a classic Owen Wilson joke into her review of How Do You Know.
Nashville's Country Music Hits: All The Cooks In... →
A great piece of work from reporter Craig Havighurst at the blog today, where we’re hosting NPR’s series on hit makers over the month. Craig talked to people along Nashville’s songwriting production line, from Bug Music staff songwriter Jaron Boyer to song plugger Scott Paschall, and follows one of Boyer’s songs from its work tape to demo version to finished cut on Jason...
"But while the Ultimate Chart and Billboard are... →
maura:
Well, 2 outta 3.
Also what’s up with no love for Number Eight lady Jazmine Sullivan? Or NUMBER ONE DUDE MIKE POSNER??? In the pantheon of dudes singing about being dudes, he is way > fucking Girls. Who aren’t even in the top ten!
also:
“The chart is based on velocity rather than absolute popularity, so it will only show artists who are rising quickly—not those who are...
New Wye Oak LP In March →
Civilian. Great fucking news.
November 2010
3 posts
Oh Kanye. I hope next week is better for you.
Janet Cardiff’s Forty-Part Motet flirts with... →
“Forty-Part Motet runs daily from noon to 8 p.m. until November 13, on the fifth floor of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street. Admission is free.”
The best news.
October 2010
3 posts
Does fantasizing about taking a trip to Florida in... →
“The Super Bowl of mapdom.”
What’s a hook?
Here’s an answer (for...
September 2010
4 posts
Five Nights With Pavement : The Record : NPR →
perpetua:
Last night after I got home from seeing Pavement, I talked to NPR’s Jacob Ganz about the band’s reunion tour, which spiraled out into a larger conversation about reunion tours in general, the canonization process, and the value of having an untainted legacy in music fandom. Enjoy!
Running Away From the Circus →
Return of the Dargis!
“Talking like a jerk except you are an actual manufacturer and exporter of all...”
– Song lyrics plus Google Scribe = endless fun.
the Books: All Things Considered. →
Hey All,
A couple months back Jacob Ganz from NPR came up to talk to us. He stopped by at both of our home studios to see how we work, and sat down for a family dinner at our place where Sepp (now 4) treated us to his scatalogical a capella version of the All Things Considered themesong.
It was…
The piece I did on the Books is airing on All Things Considered tonight. I’ll be on a...
August 2010
4 posts
Watchbuzzfeed:
Stop what you’re doing. Listen to Justin Bieber at 1/8 speed for the next 35 minutes and 29 seconds.
[Justin Bieber Slowed Down 800%]
I love you internet, but let’s do a math lesson. The original Bieber track is 3:17, or 197 seconds. 35:29 is 2129 seconds. 197/2129 = 0.0925, which is just a touch over 1/11. Besides which, I’m not even sure you can slow something down...
Azoff Tweets! →
July 2010
4 posts
seanfennessey:
Katy Perry: “Teenage Dream”
I...
Go to Pitchfork Now
Unless you’re actually in Chicago right now, just do it. The normal Pitchfork site. They’re live streaming video and audio of the festival and Robyn’s on. Go. You already missed “Fembot.” She’s singing “Cry When You Get Older” now. The crowd is into it. For the benefit of your Friday night, it’s the best decision you could make.
the new santana album has the 'least essential...
maura:
the working track listing for GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF ALL TIME, out this fall:
“Whole Lotta Love” featuring Chris Cornell (Led Zeppelin) “Sunshine Of Your Love” featuring Rob Thomas (Cream) “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” featuring Scott Weiland (The Rolling Stones) “Dance the Night Away” featuring Pat Monahan (Van Halen) “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” featuring...
Concert Promoting, the Voodoo Art →
Here’s a story I just wrote for NPR about how Live Nation, the word’s biggest promoter, books artists it manages (via Front Line) into venues it owns, and how the company’s devotion to synergy might actually prevent it from making money, despite the fact that it now also owns Ticketmaster, which means it gets all those fees you pay for the convenience of printing your own...
June 2010
3 posts
“My eyes locked with Chuck’s and with Nate’s,” Monáe recalled....”
– Janelle Monáe in the L.A. Times yesterday. Gossip Girl is going to be much more interesting next season.
“I’m Nina Totenberg, reporting live from Trey-MEHHHHH.”
– ‘Treme’: A Shouting Match - The Awl
arrrgh! must reconcile knee-jerk feelings of professional defensiveness with impulse to giggle uncontrollably. hahaharrrrrrgggh.
May 2010
4 posts
We'll Melt Your Popsicle →
Sean Fennessey’s survey of the career of pop producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald is worth reading for many reasons. In order of descending cultural relevance and ascending personal interest:
The list, with YouTube embeds, of the artists Dr. Luke has produced, from Mos Def to Miley Cyrus to Ke$ha to Weezer.
The point about how Dr. Luke’s rise coincides with a click on the...
April 2010
4 posts
I woke up, and it was a nightmare.
I woke up early — before the alarm — after four hours of sleep last night, and felt like I was late. Also, I somehow knew, and was terrified, that Pitchfork had awarded some record I’d never heard of a 9.9. Not remembered fear: the sensation struck as I was climbing out of bed, and in the moments of waking I imagined starting my computer, loading Pitchfork, and clicking on...
mbvnewmusic:
Wolf Parade – Expo 86 Out June/July on Sub Pop
I have a weird feeling that this record is going to be important to me. I grew up just across the Canadian border from Vancouver, where Expo 86 was held, and at some point began to think I had imagined the entire thing: seven years old and riding through pavilions on moving walkways and getting a soft cloth baseball cap with the...
Online Notebook: A question for the crowd →
This is so old by now. I’m not sure why I’m following the impulse to respond 2 weeks after the fact, but this came up in conversation yesterday, and the internet is 4 dimensional, so:
chainofknives:
…
New Order can say, “Don’t use our song,” but they can’t stop you from using a cover. You have to pay them publishing no matter what, because they wrote the song, but you don’t...