So, Ashlee Simpson‘s debacle on SNL this weekend seems to be the big talk of the day ’round these parts of the Internet.
And, being as how I am your musical maestro ’round here at the MoFo, I figured I’d hook you all up with some clips of the incident, as well as young Miss Simpson’s excuse at the close of the broadcast.
It’s pretty goddamn funny, being as how her band just keeps playing after she walks offstage. They’re pretty damn good, which makes her lameass excuse following the whole thing pretty sad indeed.. Evidently, according to Ashlee, her band “started playing the wrong song”, so she figured she’d do a little hoedown. Right… so, that’s the reason your voice started coming out of nowhere, when the mic was nowhere near your mouth? Nice evasion, girl.
Can’t stop the rock
by Jester on October 22, 2004 @ 7:28 am
A writer for the UK’s the Guardian newspaper undertook a daunting task- he listened to every cd released in the month of October.
Go read the story of his slow descent into madness and marvel at the sheer amount of crap that gets released every month. It’s amazing to find out how many truly unnecessary albums are reissued. I can understand London Calling, but is there really a clamor amongst music fans for a Buggles reissue?
The article is similar in tone to one that Joe Queenan did for Movieline, where he watched every single Merchant-Ivory film ever made. I highly recommend reading the Guardian article above, as well as tracking down a copy of Queenan’s book, Confessiona of a Cineplex Heckler.
Hit me, baby
by Jester on October 20, 2004 @ 1:16 pm
So, here’s an interesting thought, and it’s just me playing random connect-the-dots with ideas, but it seems to be kinda clever. It’s probably not, and I’ll hate myself when I finally come back into my right frame of mind, but we’ll just have to see.
Britney Spears‘ first single was “Hit Me Baby, One More Time.”
Her new single is “My Prerogative”, originally recorded by Bobby Brown, who was charged with battery against wife Whitney Houston, as well as threatening to “beat her ass.”
Now, Britney’s new husband (or mooch, or publicity stunt, or scumbag fuckwad who knocked up his girlfriend and left her for an easy meal ticket… whatever you wanna call him), Kevin Federline, is known for wearing a wife-beater. Je just looks like he’s the sort of guy who’d smack a woman, doesn’t he? To steal a line from Mallrats, “The guy looks like a date rapist! He’s a walking hardon, just looking for a hole!”
Yeah… way to go out, Britney. You were once the top dog in the female pop game, and now you’ve relegated yourself to playing stepmom to the illegitimate kid of a rather skeezy-looking former backup dancer of yours. Niiiiiiice.
Pick up the receiver, I’ll make you a believer
by Jester on October 8, 2004 @ 10:37 am
Gainesville, Florida’s the Aeffect is getting ready to release their debut full-length Secrets & Lies on their label, Hitchhiker Records on October 19. So you’ll be able to find it in stores, though, it’s being distributed by Suburban Home.
To promote their effort, they’ve filmed a video for the song “Burning In the Bed On Fire.” You can also download an mp3 of the song here. They band sounds an awful lot like Depeche Mode, but that’s never been a bad thing in my book. Hell, look what it did for the Faint.
Of course, if you find yourself listening to the mp3 and can’t wait the week and a half until the album is released, you can always check your local independant record store for their first EP, A Short Dream, on Fueled By Ramen.
Revolution rock
by Jester on @ 7:54 am
L.A.-based radio station Indie 103.1 is my new crack. Ever since discovering that the Clash’s Steve Jones does a show called “Jonesy’s Jukebox” from noon-2pm every day, I’ve been listening all the time. Mainly when I’m sitting here at the computer or working in the kitchen, since.. well… I live in fucking Kansas.
Anyhow, Joe Sib, Henry Rollins, and the Crystal Method all have shows… and you can stream the damn thing in the comfort of your own home. So, give it a shot. It’s the best radio station I’ve ever heard. Think college radio, without the annoying djs that are on college radio.
CD Review: Last of the Famous – “The Music or the Misery”
by Jester on October 4, 2004 @ 4:05 pm
So, this is Last of the Famous, the newest band from John Porcelly, also known as Porcell. He’s most famous for playing guitar in the seminal New York hardcore acts Youth of Today and Shelter. These groups were most famous for being among the first acts to kick off the straight-edge movement in the early ’80s, alongside acts like Minor Threat.
Last of the Famous also features Alex GarcÃa-Rivera, who’s played in Piebald and Give Up the Ghost (formerly American Nightmare), as well as Saves the Day. Porcell has also lent his talents to the Gorilla Biscuits. So, you’d think The Music or the Misery would be a nice old-school hardcore record, sort of a throwback to the ’80s, sounding like all the previously mentioned bands.
Nope. Not a fucking chance, kids. Actually, it sounds an awful lot like something that would come out on Fat Wreck or Epitaph, namely a No Use For A Name record, or maybe some of the mellower Pennywise material.
It’s pretty surprising, really. When I found out Last of the Famous’ pedigree, this was about the last thing I was expecting. It’s got some heavy to it, but it’s pretty speedy, poppy music, with not a breakdown to be found. Now, the lyrics do reflect the message that Shelter and Youth of Today espoused so much back in the day, such as veganism, being drug free, and so on, so they’ve got that link. Musically, however, you’d never be able to guess that this band had so many hardcore veterans in its midst.
Despite the disparity between the past bands and the current sound, this is a good album. I wouldn’t go so far as to say great, but it’s good. Nothing particularly memorable, especially the vocals, which- while capable- do nothing to really grab your ear. The guitars have plenty of hooks, and the drums and bassline work to keep the songs going, but there’s never really any solid meat for them to dig into. The Music or the Misery falls strictly in the middle of the road, but I imagine that there will be plenty of kids curious to hear it, just to see what the members have been up to after all these years.
456 Entertainment
Last of the Famous
If you could be a superhero
by Jester on September 29, 2004 @ 3:01 pm
To be honest, I was completely and utterly remiss in not informing you all that Stephen Lynch had a live dvd coming out today. Well, now you know.
The dvd is entitled Live At the El Rey, and as the title implies, it’s a live dvd of Lynch, recorded at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles.
You can pick it up on Amazon for $11.24 right now. Granted, I got an advance copy from the unscupulous record shop downtown that pretty much dumps all their advance stuff into the dollar bin. Seriously, though, it’s well worth picking up. The facial expressions on Lynch’s face are priceless, and add a lot to the songs, and his material in between songs is fucking hilarious. All the favorites are here- “Special Ed”, “If I Were Gay”, “Best Friends”, “Superhero”… no “Lullaby” or “Special Olympics”, tho’.
As an aside, it’s nice to find some new material, like “Baby”, without it turning out to be a mislabled track off Kazaa. It seems that every “funny” song that people don’t know the performer of ends up getting labeled as Stephen Lynch or “Weird Al” Yankvoic. Just a minor pet peeve…
That’s it. No more smoking dope and trying to write updates.
American idiots
by Jester on September 24, 2004 @ 5:50 pm
Green Day, according to a story on MacWorld, is “selling own-branded CD-Rs to fans who want to burn digital versions of their albums.” As you can see from the above image, this means that the CD-Rs have the cover art from each of their five full-lengths.
According to the shop where you can buy the CD-Rs, the idea behind the disc is to “download music legally and burn your own Green Day compilations.”
Riiiiiiiiiight. Yeah, the images are printed right on the CD-Rs, and they come with “coordinated colour slimline cases” and “a rare photo of the band”, but, seriously, who the fuck is willing to pay 7.99 (with free shipping) for five blank cds, when you can just as easily go to your local big box store and pick up a spindle of fifty for ten dollars on sale? As far as the art on the discs go… well, you can buy cd labellers for damn cheap, and they can be used to make way more than five cds.
And for that matter, if they think I’m gonna pay ten bucks to download their albums off iTunes, then pay another $1.75 for the privilege of burning it onto cd, when I can go to the store and buy it for two bucks more (less, if you’re buying any of those used), they have to be out of their damn minds.
I wonder what the cost of buying five blank discs with slimline cases, and burning ’em off from Soulseek is?
History will repeat itself again
by Jester on September 23, 2004 @ 1:27 pm
NYC based independent label Stay Gold announced today the signing of one of the hardest working and best liked bands in punk rock, the Lost City Angels. The Boston group had previously announced theirt next record would be on Nitro, but it seems that has changed. Glad they were able to find a new home. The band plans to start recording in Boston come November so look for a new CD in the Spring of 2005.
In the meantime, they have a few shows lined up, so go to their site for up-to-date information. You can also check out and download some demo tracks at their MySpace page.
This is why you don’t give me money
by Jester on September 21, 2004 @ 4:40 pm
Currently possessing more money than I should be allowed to have in my back pocket, I recently dropped six bucks on an import single from Charlotte Hatherley‘s “Summer.” I can hear the sound of several of you scratching your heads, so I’ll explain as to why I’d spend six bucks for three songs by someone most of you are at a loss to identify.
Charlotte is the guitarist for Ash, the amazingly great rock band from Ireland. She’s a killer ax-slinger, and cute as a button, to boot. I’d been hearing talks about her solo record coming out, and since Ash’s stuff never shows up over here, I take what I can get when I find it. That’s why I was willing to risk six bucks for three songs. Hatherley’s got a fantastic voice, and I was curious as to what sort of stuff she’d do outside the confines of the band.
The “Summer” single is off her new album, Grey Will Fade, which is currently available from Double Dragon Music. Of course, you can’t get it in the States, yet, but if you’re willing to pay more than you should for shipping, you can get the fucker imported. The single is pretty good, making good use of Chaz’s guitar-playing and singing abilities. It’s kind of Breeders/Red Five/Veruca Salt female-fronted pop-rock music, and makes me wish the disc had come out ealier in the summer.
You can hear another track, “Kim Wilde”, by going to the Double Dragon site or download it at Hatherley’s page. You can also watch the video for “Summer” over at NME‘s site.