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Pop Culture

20 Pictures of the Most Important Beards in the Last Decade

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Summer is slowly winding down, which means we will all be faced with a good deal of sartorial choices as we make the move from hot to cold. One of the most important facing many of us is whether or not we’re planning on growing our beards in to shield us from the harsh winds (that is, if we can even grow them in the first place) and crappy weather. … Read More

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Music

30 Essential LGBT Albums

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A couple of weeks back, we celebrated Pride Month with a pretty epic selection of essential LGBT films. The post was so popular with our readers that we thought we’d follow up with a similar selection of LGBT albums. As with our film selection, this encompasses records featuring LGBT artists and/or characters and themes. (And no, of course it doesn’t include Michelle… Read More

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Music

20 of the Flat-Out Funniest Songs in Rock ‘n’ Roll

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In an attempt to save you (not to mention ourselves) from the general Monday-morning awfulness that tends to follow a lovely spring weekend, Flavorwire has compiled a playlist of indie/rock/generally guitar-based songs that are genuinely funny. These are 20 of the flat-out wittiest and most amusing songs we know — and we guarantee that at least one of them will make you chuckle. (Note: we’re discounting actual comedy songs here, so no Lonely Island/Flight of the Conchords/etc.) Keep the hilarity going by adding to our list in the comments. … Read More

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Music

A Selection of the Flat-Out Dirtiest Songs in the History of Music

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The good folk at Dangerous Minds are great at unearthing amazing YouTube rarities, and they outdid themselves last week with a 1971 performance by Ike and Tina Turner, which goes down in history as one of the most subtly filthy live performances we’ve ever seen — it’s basically one long allusion to oral sex, with Tina spending most of her time doing very, very suggestive things to the microphone, and while Ike’s ophidian glare still gives us the creeps, he does make some glorious slurping noises into his own mic. The crowd clearly knows exactly what’s going on, sniggering throughout, and the whole thing’s a testament to just how filthy music could be, even in an era that was still comparatively conservative. Anyway, the spectacle got us thinking about our favorite dirty songs, the best of which we have shared after the jump. Don’t play these while your boss is around. Obviously. … Read More

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New York

John Cale Restores Nico’s Musical Legacy in All-Star Tribute

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[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

With all the tribute albums and concerts (and art shows and dance parties, etc.) on offer these days, it’s easy forget that they can be more than just shallow attempts on the part of their organizers to cash in on a name more famous than their own. Last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the consistently thoughtful, uncompromising John Cale reminded me. Not only did he amass an appropriate and diverse set of musicians for Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico, but his clear-eyed and unsentimental celebration of his one-time Velvet Underground bandmate did what any worthwhile tribute should do — broadened and deepened our understanding of its subject. … Read More

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Music

A Selection of Great Duets We’d Love to See

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As we’ve written here in the past, the duet is an inexact science — some of the collaborations that you’d think should have been roaring successes proved to be disastrous, and vice versa. We’re still on the fence as to which group the new St. Vincent/David Byrne collaboration Love This Giant, which is out today, falls into — but either way, the fact that two of our favorite artists have made a whole record together got us thinking about other dream duets we’d love to see. We’ve started the discussion with a bunch of suggestions. Who would you like to see in the studio together? … Read More

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Music

Hear Peaches’ New Song in Support of Pussy Riot

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World-famous rock stars like Madonna and Sting may be getting all the credit, but feminist indie musicians have been supportive of imprisoned Russian activist band/collective Pussy Riot since the very beginning. Kathleen Hanna and her former band mates in both Le Tigre and Bikini Kill have been raising awareness of their plight for months, and now Peaches (who’s also been involved for quite a while) has released a song and video dedicated to the cause. The clip pairs a simple, thudding electronic track that praises the band as “anarchist, feminist, what we need” — and also, awesomely, nods to Icona Pop’s wonderful “I Love It” — with powerful visuals from pro-Pussy Riot demonstrations around the world. Enjoy the badass video below, download the song and sign Peaches’ petition, read the band’s powerful closing statements, find out about actions in your city planned to coincide with Friday’s verdict, and click here to help in any way you can. … Read More

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Music

Ranking Intergenerational Musical Collaborations from Best to Worst

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This week sees the release of The Bravest Man in the Universe, the intriguing new record that teams iconic soul vocalist Bobby Womack with Damon Albarn and XL Records founder Richard Russell, both of whom handle production duties. It’s an intriguing proposition on paper, and on record, the results are thoroughly excellent listening. The intergenerational nature of the collaboration, which also features an unlikely duet with Lana Del Rey — and the news this week that John Cale is working with Danger Mouse — has got us thinking about other occasions when artists from different musical eras have gotten together and produced music to bridge the generation gap. Sometimes it works, and sometimes, well, it doesn’t. We’ve ranked a few of the most notable such collaborations from best to worst. Let us know what you think. … Read More

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Books

Literary Mixtape: Dorian Gray

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If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: everyone’s favorite hedonist, Dorian Gray. … Read More

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Music

Chilly Gonzales on Orchestral Rap and Dueling John Mayer

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Chilly Gonzales has been on an artistic rampage for well over a decade now. The Canadian-born, Paris-based artist once known as Jason Beck has collaborated with Peaches, Feist, and Jamie Lidell; released numerous albums of rap, pop, and instrumental piano music; wrote, starred in, and released his own feature film; and broken the world record for solo piano performance (after playing for over 27 hours straight).

His latest is The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales, an album that blends rap with orchestral music, arranged by his film composer brother, Christophe Beck. We caught up with Chilly at home in Paris for an interactive video interview, in which he reveals his love of Jewish humor, explains the connection between hip-hop and South Park, and challenges John Mayer to a duel. … Read More

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