The new CD from The Lost Patrol, Driven, was released on May 1, and I’ve just about played it to death ever since. This is their ninth album (I think – if there’s more I missed them and need copies asap) and there’s something a little uncanny about their ability to continue mining such a distinct sound without getting stale and
Read moreTunesDay usually happens on Tuesday, not Thursday. But the first video from the new self-titled Hot Nun CD was just released, so fuck the rules and roll the tape. Hot Nun is the latest project from Jeff Shelton, whom you may know from The Spinning Jennies and The Well Wishers (they’ve featured here at S&R a number of times). While
Read moreI’m a sucker for wack-ass mashups that no normal human being could possibly have seen coming. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition Mashup, bitches. Make sure you stick around for the whole show – I saved something special for last. You didn’t expect a Nirvana/Europe mashup, I’ll bet. Nobody expects Metallica meets Herbie Hancock. Adele vs. The Eurythmics? Okay this is
Read moreIf you play it backward you can hear Paul singing “eat your vegetables.”
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As I’ve noted before, I grew up working class in the South. My neighborhood, my school, my family and friends, it all oscillated between “redneck” and “white trash,” and yes, there’s a difference. I wrote not long ago about the challenges facing those of us trying to climb the socio-economic ladder when nothing in our upbringing had taught us which fork
Read moreNatalie Maines has a new solo CD set to drop Tuesday. It’s entitled Mother, and it’s simply wonderful. If you’d like a preview you can stream it at NPR. I think we can now safely call Maines a former C&W artist. Mother, which is largely a collaboration with Ben Harper and his band, lies solidly to the Americana side of the
Read moreRhetorical Question of the Day: In anticipation of the new song release from K-Pop star PSY, we anticipated that: a) he’d boldly break off to forge new and innovative artistic directions b) he’d pimp that “Gangnam Style” formula like a four-dollar whore at the Republican National Convention I thought so. For my part, I wondered how long it would take
Read moreFirst off, if you were among the crazies at the Izod Center for Monday Night Raw last evening, we salute you. Sweet baby Jesus on a pogo stick, what were you people on? For those who missed the goings on in East Rutherford, this was the Raw on the night after WrestleMania, and what showed up may or may not have
Read moreWe haven’t historically regarded the French for their rock & roll. Wine and cuisine, sure. Beautiful women, absolutely. But Europe’s greatest pop music has always tended to emerge across the channel. Then, in 2009, a little band from Versailles called Phoenix blowed up with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and one of the year’s hottest Indie singles, “Lisztomania.” Phoenix had been around for a
Read morePart 5 in a series. Once upon a time there was Def Leppard and Motley Crue and Skid Row. Then this video happened and that, as they say, was that.
Read morePart 4 in a series. It sometimes seemed like MTV in the 1990s was little more than a video résumé for one Adam Spiegel, aka Spike Jonze. He seemed to be the guy directing all the damned videos, and some of the era’s most inventive concepts were his. Here’s a sample. Up first, let’s watch some television. Like, that time when
Read moreTo announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ― Theodore Roosevelt On March 10, 2003, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theatre in London, Natalie Maines stepped to the microphone and said this:
Read morePart 3 in a series. Our first couple of installments in the series where characterized by rage, I suppose. So today let’s step away from the anger and look at videos of a more artistic bent. First up, the video I’ve always sort of regarded as the best ever: “Dirt,” by Death in Vegas. Avant gardiste to its core, and very
Read morePart 2 in a series. The Reagan/Thatcher years were marked by an utterly bizarre shiny/happy pastel sheen spread liberally across a decidedly apocalyptic doom. Listen to songs like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Forever Young” and “It’s a Mistake” (and watch the videos). The aesthetic seemed to be “we’re all going to die in a nuclear holocaust, of
Read morePart 1 in a series. In the 1980s, video killed the radio star. In the 2000s, MTV, Millennials and a whole new wave of mobile technology killed video. In between, though, we had the ’90s, the golden age of the form. While the ’80s were about pioneering a new genre of short film built around pop and rock songs, the ’90s
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lullaby pit 