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The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. We’re dying to know the story behind this

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we read David Simon’s take on the Petraeus scandal, as well as some of the former CIA director’s love poems. We learned how to turn our browser into a distraction-free typewriter. We met the Keebler Elves of cannabis. We checked out Popular Science’s annual… Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Redd Kross, Yeasayer

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, and we’re back with another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week there’s a long, long-awaited track from resurgent ’90s icons Redd Kross, a descent to the ocean floor with Bon Iver How to Dress Well, new work from Yeasayer and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, an M83 remix for those not sick of M83, and the answer to the question that’s been bugging everyone: how come they don’t sell batteries on the subway any more? In other words, there’s plenty of interesting sounds awaiting you after the jump, and since they won’t cost a penny or land you an RIAA lawsuit, as your attorneys we advise you to start downloading immediately. … Read More

Music

An Analysis of 2011′s Many Dance Songs About Dancing

By Romy Oltuski on

Foot tapping and head bobbing are as much facets of some songs as lyrics and instrumentals. But some music goes to particularly explicit lengths to serenade dance, not only compelling listeners to get up and move, but also paying homage to the act of dancing in subject matter. Below the jump, we review some of 2011′s most memorable dance songs about dancing — full-on, unmasked celebrations of bouncing, shuffling, booty shaking, and generally letting loose on the dance floor. … Read More

Music

The Das Racist Conan Performance Everyone Is Talking About

By Judy Berman on

Flavorpill favorites Das Racist made their TV debut last night on Conan — and what a debut it was. Those who happen to be familiar with the rappers’ “Michael Jackson” video may not be surprised to learn that they actually brought a (pretty damn convincing) King of Pop impersonator onstage to accompany their performance of the track. What’s possibly more shocking is that Das Racist slowed down their delivery of the song to an opiated, practically witch-house pace. We can only imagine what Conan viewers who have never heard of the band made of a stage full of weirdos in letterman sweaters and mad-scientist coveralls drawling out cough-syrup vocals and shouting out Jhumpa Lahiri while a guy who makes his living pretending to be Michael Jackson moonwalks across the stage. Enjoy the thoroughly punk-rock spectacle after the jump. … Read More

Food

New York City’s Definitive Indie Rock Food Map

By Jessica Amason on

Today kicks off the 2011 CMJ Music Marathon – that annual five-day barrage of label showcases, panels, and college radio nerdery. So as the indie music world descends on New York City, we thought we’d help introduce them to what Gotham takes almost as seriously as its tunes: its food.

We’ve created an interactive map of 125 NYC food recommendations from 58 indie artists, scraping everything from bands’ Yelp profiles to sites like Food Is The New Rock. Want to know where to find Hurray For Earth’s favorite slice? Maybe try some Das Racist-approved soup dumplings? We’ve got you covered. After all… it’s hard to rock on an empty stomach. … Read More

Music

Das Racist's "Michael Jackson" Video = MJ's "Black or White" Video

By Judy Berman on

It was only a few weeks ago that we paid tribute Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” — a video that is alternately random, bloated, and brilliant but never, ever boring. Our rediscovery turns out to have been well-timed: Das Racist have just released a video for their song, “Michael Jackson,” and while it doesn’t feature a ten-year-old Macaulay Culkin in a backwards baseball cap and 20 pounds of gold chain, it certainly owes a debt to “Black or White.” It stars an especially creepy Jackson impersonator, finds the Das Racist boys green-screened into dances with African tribesmen and Hawaiian hula girls, and ends with a face-morphing sequence that doubles as a who’s who of indie rock and underground hip-hop (hey, it’s the dude from Yeasayer! And the guy from Vampire Weekend — no, the other one! And El-P!). Of course, because we’re talking about Das Racist here, we also get a Last Supper scene starring some famous dictators, a few moments of The Simpsons, an SNL homage, and a shout out to Panda Bear. If all this doesn’t sound like too much for a Friday morning, enjoy the video after the jump. … Read More

Music

10 New Albums You Need to Hear in September

By Tom Hawking on

Good news for music lovers: there’s a wealth of new releases in September, and a lot of them look pretty fine indeed — so much so that it was more difficult than usual to prune our regular monthly selection of the best upcoming releases back to just 10 selections. But we’re a discipline bunch here, so we’ve restrained our urges and pared down our wishlist — the result is what you’ll find after the jump, the 10 records that Flavorpill’s most looking forward to getting hold of this month. What’s on your shopping list? … Read More

Music

Great Journalist-Musician Feuds: A History

By Judy Berman on

The Village Voice’s Sound of the City blog recently published an article with the provocative headline, “Michael Musto to LCD Soundsystem: ‘Suck it, James Murphy!’” Now, what in the world could have happened to provoke that? It seems LCD’s new track “Pow Pow” contains the fighting words, “Eat it Michael Musto; you’re no Bruce Vilanch!” And while the Voice’s Zach Baron had to explain who the band was to Musto, we think his retort to a somewhat nonsensical jab sounds about right.

The Musto-Murphy beef appears to be all in good fun, but it still reminds us of some great moments in more serious (not to mention more seriously entertaining) musician-journalist feuds. After the jump, peruse some of our favorite battles, from Lou Reed vs. Lester Bangs to Pitchfork vs… well, you’ll see. … Read More

Music

Das Racist to Sasha Frere-Jones: “Stop trying to kill rap.”

By Caroline Stanley on

Editor’s note: When we read Sasha Frere-Jones’ recent piece on the death of hip-hop, we didn’t have a witty comeback. What we did have was one name on the brain: Das Racist. A favorite here at Flavorpill HQ, the Brooklyn-based rap duo is one of the most exciting new acts on the scene. And as the New York Times recently said, “Das Racist’s lack of piety has become an aesthetic of its own, with songs that are as much commentary on hip-hop as rigorous practice of it.” We’ll turn it over to them now.… Read More