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The 50 Albums Everyone Needs to Own, 1963-2013

By Tom Hawking on

No one buys albums anymore, goes the music industry truism. And yet, for all that the format’s commercial viability may or may not be on the wane, sitting and listening to a great album from start to finish is one of the greatest pleasures that music can bring. Flavorwire recently got to thinking about how one might build a record collection if you really only did buy one record a year. So here’s the result of our thought exercise: 50 albums you really should own, one a year from 1963 until the present… Read More

Music

The Most Insanely Prolific Artists in Music

By Tom Hawking on

This week sees the release of Ocean Roar, the new record by Phil Elverum, aka Mount Eerie. Apart from being a rather lovely record in its own right, Ocean Roar is notable for being the second Mount Eerie record of the year, following May’s similarly excellent Clear Moon. This makes Elverum one of 2012′s more prolific musicians, although not necessarily the most prolific, because a couple of the music world’s most famously productive musicians have also had busy years. You’ll find a rundown of these super-busy types, along with some of music’s most prolific artists, past and present, after the jump — as ever, feel free to jump in with further suggestions in the comments section. … Read More

Film

25 Must-See Music Documentaries

By Jason Bailey on

Our favorite of this week’s several fine indie releases is Searching for Sugar Man, Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul’s investigative profile of Sixto Rodriguez, a singer/songwriter who should have been a giant star in the early 1970s and instead faded into obscurity (and then became a cult sensation in New Zealand, Australia, and apartheid-era South Africa). Bendjelloul’s warm, kind film is both a showcase for terrific music and a compelling human interest story; it deserves a place alongside the best music documentaries, and since it reminded us of them, we thought we’d compile a list of our favorite music docs. It’s a list that’s constantly in flux, so we’ve included some alternates (as well as where you can see them); we’d love to hear yours as well. Check it out after the jump. … Read More

Music

'Mad Men' Mixtape: 10 Great Songs from 1966

By Tom Hawking on

As you might have noticed if you’ve been reading Flavorwire this week, Mad Men is back Sunday, and the new season takes us to 1966, a year when — as baby boomer mythology has been reminding us mercilessly ever since — the acid was good, the love was free, and the counter-cultural revolution was kicking into full swing. (Not that we can imagine Don Draper donning a kaftan and heading down to Haight-Ashbury to wander around in circles pointing at trees, mind you.) But having heard the news that the producers had to can a song from the soundtrack (Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love”) for being from 1967, we thought we’d take it upon ourselves to put together a mixtape of some contemporary tunes that might well appear on the show in Season 5. And yes, we’ve even included Bob Dylan! Rejoice, denizens of the comments section. … Read More

Celebrity

10 Highly Informative Celebrity How-To Videos

By Emily Temple on

Recently, we discovered a wonderful collaboration between perennial tough-guy Vinnie Jones and The British Heart Foundation, which is airing TV advertisements starring the actor to raise awareness about proper CPR form. The move came after a study showed that nearly 50% of Brits are unsure about what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest, but we think everyone could use a little reminder (no kissing). Inspired by Jones’s video, we’ve collected a series of informative celebrity how-tos and informational videos, whether funny or serious, produced or off the cuff, on everything from dance moves to changing a tire to proper etiquette. Click through to take a look, and by all means, get ready to learn something. … Read More

Television

10 Seriously Strange Celebrity Talk Show Appearances

By Alison Nastasi on

A post Jenny Craig (sorry, Jenny) Mariah Carey paid The Rosie Show a visit yesterday. The pop diva opened her talk show appearance by arriving on a giant, suspended disco-glittery moon. This is the same woman who played her own 1995 live performance of “Fantasy” during the birth of her new twins Moroccan and Monroe so they would be born to the sound of applause. (Yes, really.) The singer’s awkward lunar landing calls to mind many celebrity talk show appearances where the stars veered off topic — sometimes avoiding it completely — and humiliated themselves in front of the world with oddball behavior and confusing conversation. Click through to revisit some seriously weird celebrity talk show moments, and let us know who you’d add to the list below. … Read More

Pop Culture

Saucy and Beautiful Vintage Buttons For Proclaiming Your Proclivities

By Emily Temple on

Christen Carter has been making buttons for bands, artists, and whoever else needs a good button since 1995. Her first customer, picked up while she was learning the trade abroad in England, was indie band Guided by Voices, and she’s just gotten bigger from there. Her company, Busy Beaver Button Company, now makes millions of buttons for clients like Missy Elliot, Bumble and Bumble, Threadless, Adidas, and Burger King. Not content with simply producing quality buttons, Carter has also become a serious collector of vintage buttons, and recently launched an online button museum to show off some of her amazing finds. Click through to see a few of our favorites — from the lovely to the saucy to the serious — and then check out Carter’s online museum for even more.

… Read More

Music

10 Essential Female Funk Artists

By Colette McIntyre on

We were excited to see the conversation our female punk icons post generated, finding relief in the fact that while Rolling Stone may have overlooked these women, our readers certainly haven’t. Unfortunately, punk rock isn’t the only genre in which women have been notoriously sidelined — often, a funk album’s only female presence is its scantily clad cover model. When pressed, true funk aficionados can name a few women who brought the funk but, more often than not, Chaka Khan is the only artist who gets credit for her contribution. While we love our Chaka, there are plenty of other ladies who tore the roof off the sucker, so we’ve compiled a list of 10 women who should be in every funk fan’s collection. As always, this is in no way a definitive list, merely a launching pad for further investigation. … Read More

Web

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

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we wanted to take a bite out of this incredibly tiny gay wedding cake by food artist Jessica Hlavac. We couldn’t believe the news that MySpace just sold for $35 million after News Corp. paid $580 million for the site back in 2005. We learned more… Read More

Music

10 Indie Rock Acts Your Dad Might Enjoy

By Judy Berman on

Here’s the deal: It’s the Wednesday before Father’s Day. You need to get your present to dad in the mail stat, but you haven’t even found out yet. Since it’s probably too late to order one of the items from our gift guide, why not go down to the music store and thoughtfully pick out an album you think your old man might like? Instead of resorting to yet another Beatles box set, we think it’s high time to get Dad interested in something new. So, after the jump, we’ve put together a quick guide to finding a current indie-rock band your father will enjoy, based on the ’60s and ’70s acts he loves best. … Read More