MGMT/Daft Punk mash up

Just happened to come across this on youtube.

The Gaslight Anthem

Even after reading some positive reviews I was weary of this band due to their connection to the Mall Punk scene. Well there was nothing to fear because they have more in common with Bruce Springsteen, Sun Records and Motown than with poser punk boy bands. Definitely recommended for fans of Social Distortion, Bruce Springsteen and Rockabilly.

Top Albums of 2008

Classic Construction

The Powell Peralta team video The Search For Animal Chin might not have been the first skate video that I saw but it was the first to blow my mind. The Powell crew travel across the west coast and Hawaii in search of Won Ton "Animal" Chin and rip up every skate spot along the way. The highlight of the video is when they find the legendary Chin Ramp, a huge ramp with a secret.

Seriously Black Friday!

Today in Long Island New York a Walmart worker was trampled to death when shoppers broke down the department stores doors. Is it really worth killing someone over a discount on some shit that is going to be sitting in your closet in six months? Sometimes I really hate our greed obsessed culture in this would be one of them.

Classic Graphic

This Rob Roskopp graphic is another all time favorite. Just a simple eyeball graphic and a bold color were all it took. I also seem to remember this shape being good to skate as well. Rob ended up dropping out of skateboarding and designing mountain bikes for Santa Cruz.

The Jesus Lizard to Reunite!!

The Chicago hard rockers are to reunite next year for a few tour dates according to their label Touch and Go. It will be the original line up and is coming on the heals of reissues of their first four albums.

Fucked Up Weekend

This clip of Ezra from Vampire Weekend playing some punk covers with Fucked Up is one of the best things I have seen in a long time. It just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover.

Style Icon: Reid Miles and Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records were founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis and went on to put out some of the most important records in music history. Some Blue Note artists include John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith and Horace Silver. Along with their bold music Blue Note was also known for their stunning album covers. Reid Miles was their in-house artist who also worked for Esquire at the time. The labels visual image was defined by black and white photographs, san-serif fonts, and a limited color palette which consisted of black and white with a singular bold color.

The Hunt for the Worst Album Cover Ever

Yo this album is the shit!! Sorry, had to do it.

Classic Album

Today IRS releases the deluxe edition of REM's debut album. Yesterday Pitchfork gave it the elusive 10.0 rating which puts it in the exclusive club with classics like Daydream Nation. Those first few REM albums really did change music and pave the way for what has been called Alternative, Modern Rock, College Rock and Indy. If REM never made this album who knows if Nirvana or Sonic Youth would have ever been on a major label or cracked the mainstream. Below is a weird TV promo I found for the original release.

Douchebag of the Month

This month's douche is non other than Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins cover band. It seems Billy has taken to talking shit to the people who have forked over their hard earned money to see his pale bald ass play their good songs not the new "shit". Check out the video!

Feeling Left Out

My hometown of Austin Texas bills its self as the live music capitol of the world. Why is it then that Sean Hannity's Freedom Concert is coming to Dallas and Houston but not our town? I'll tell you why, there are too many of those anti America liberals in Austin. Still for this amazing lineup it is worth the trip. I mean can you imagine Oliver North joining Billy Ray Cyrus on Acky Breaky Heart!! Still I think we can improve on this. How about Ted Nuggent rocks out while Chuck Norris drop kicks a caribou and then Sarah Palin shoots it in the head? Or for the encore Sean Hannity rips the head off of his Fox News co host Allen Colms! Now that's what I call freedom!!

Classic Clip

Chicago's Naked Raygun are one of my all time favorite punk/post punk bands. They are often overlooked when talking about the greatest punk bands of their era but their first few albums still stand up today like any classic should.

Classic Graphic

Some of my favorite artwork has been found and scratched off of the bottom of skateboards. Many skaters have had themed artwork throughout their careers like Tony Hawks Hawk and Chritian Hosoi's Sun. One of my all time favorites has to be the Panther graphic that Natas Kaupas had. The art was done by Jim Phillips who did tons of other great graphic like Rob Roskopp's eye.

The Fireman

The Fireman is a on again off again project between Paul McCartney and Producer Youth who also played bass in Killing Joke. After a ten year break their new album Electric Arguments comes out on November 24. Below is a video of song Lifelong Passion being used in the awesome BBC Documentary Planet Earth.

WTF

Ever wondered what would happen is someone combined T-Pain's Autotuned R&B with Screamo shouts? Yeah me neither. If this is a real group I'll eat my pants!

New Guns and Roses

The long talked about and seldom heard new GNR album Chinese Democracy is now streaming at their Myspace. Over the years everyone from Moby to Buckethead has been attached to this project. Well as far as I know neither are on the finished project. Upon a first listen I have to say that Slash is really missed because the Nu Metal guitar sinks some songs that might have been decent otherwise. As far as I can tell the best thing to come out of this release is the free Dr. Pepper that every American was promised upon its release.

Dream Pop

Here is a video from Denton Texas Dream Poppers Fite Bite that will take you back to the golden age of Creation records.

Welcome Back Q-Tip!

It seems like every year It gets harder for me to find new hip hop albums to get excited over. Every now and then I'll come across something good but it's not like the 80's (Run DMC, Public Enemy) or the 90's (De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Gang Star) when half by music diet was made up of the "boom bap". That's why it was a pleasant surprise this week to pick up Q-Tips new album and find it to be quite good. For a guy who had his last two albums shelved by the label Tip sounds like he is having fun on his new one.

This weekend FUN FUN FUN FEST!

This weekend I will be trotting down to Waterloo Park here in Austin for FunX3 fest. This years artists include the Dead Milkmen (reunion!), hardcore heroes Bad Brains, coke rappers Clipse plus favorites like The National, Deerhoof, Trail of Dead, Atmosphere and Islands. And unlike ACL it is not going to be 100 degrees outside!

President Obama!

REM celebrate Obama's victory with "I Believe", how fitting is that?

R.I.P. Frank Navetta

Last week the founding member of the Descendants passed away after being ill for several days. No band except maybe The Cure meant as much to me in high school than the Descendants did. They wrote songs about things I cared about like girls and food. Wikipedia says:

Descendants were formed in 1978 by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. Their first release -- the only one with this lineup -- was "Ride the Wild"/"It's a Hectic World", a double A-side of melodic surf-pop.

In 1980 they enlisted Stevenson's old schoolfriend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. Their first release with Aukerman, 1981's Fat EP, was a furious six-minute barrage of teen angst and goofball humour, featuring such songs as "My Dad Sucks" and the eleven-second "Wienerschnitzel".

Their debut album the following year, Milo Goes to College, introduced an element of melody and sensitivity that set them apart from most other hardcore bands. They sang about being (and wanting to be) rejected ("I'm Not A Loser", "I Wanna Be A Bear", "Parents"), girls ("Hope", "Myage", "Marriage", "Kabuki Girl"), fishing ("Catalina"), and other subjects not normally discussed by their peers. Songwriting was shared among the band members, and Stevenson's songs in particular were to greatly influence the melodic punk-pop bands of the 1990's.

One day to go!

Tomorrow could mark the beginning of one of the biggest changes to occur in American political history. If four years ago you told me we would be on the verge of electing a black liberal with a Muslim name president I would have had you put in rehab. Yet here we are one day away from a possible president Obama. If you need a sound track to your election day festivities check out http://barackrock.iwroteyouasong.org/
A website of free Obamatastic jams.