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A Selection of Cheery Tunes to Soundtrack the Apocalypse

By Tom Hawking on

So, yes, Flavorpill HQ is located in NYC, and yes, we weathered the stormpocalypse and came out the other side. Happy days. It looks like the world isn’t going to end — or not today, at least. But shit, even if it does, we’re gonna keep posting until the end times are upon us, and when they are, we’re gonna need something to listen to. So here’s a selection of the best apocalyptic songs that music has to offer, with plenty in the way of biblical storm imagery and general portentousness. Here’s to hoping everyone out there is OK. … Read More

Music

Songs That Sound Like Love Songs But Aren’t

By Tom Hawking on

A while back, we did a feature on some of the most misunderstood songs in music, and it’s a topic we’ve been meaning to revisit ever since. Specifically, we’re always interested in the realm of the faux love song, tracks that sound all lovey-dovey at first listen but either conceal deeper meanings or aren’t in fact love songs at all (or, at least, not love songs about people). Whether they’re rude and risqué, sinister, or just plain weird, there are some great songs that fall into this category, and we’ve amused ourselves selecting 10 of them for this feature. If you’ve any to add, the comments section is your friend. … Read More

Music

Are Pixies Recording New Material?

By Judy Berman on

How much do you trust Perry Farrell? Enough to believe him when he says Pixies are recording? Because that is, indeed, what he’s saying. Slicing Up Eyeballs has spotted a tweet from Farrell, in which he responds to a fan who reminisces, “Back in the day the cool kids at my high school… Read More

Music

The 10 Most Genuinely Disturbing Songs About Mothers

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Mother’s Day this weekend, and while we love our mothers here at Flavorpill as dearly as anyone, we do get more than a little tired of the wave of Hallmark-card sentimentality that comes with the second Sunday in May. So we thought we’d commemorate the day with something a little darker than yet another list that features Tupac’s “Dear Mama” and Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion” — instead, we thought we’d look at some of the more sinister and disturbing songs about mothers and/or motherhood over the years. They’re better songs anyway. … Read More

Music

Download a Free 4-Song Pixies Live EP

By Judy Berman on

Pixies may not have given us a new studio album in over 20 years, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting an entire career’s worth of extra mileage (not to mention money) out of the old stuff. So it’s nice to see that the band is giving back to the fans who’ve shelled out for… Read More

Music

10 of Music’s Unlikeliest Buzzbands

By Tom Hawking on

Boys & Girls, the debut album by Flavorpill faves Alabama Shakes, is out today. The band’s rise to prominence has been one of the more heartening stories of 2012, and not only because their music is great and entirely deserving of all the acclaim that’s been showered upon it. No, we’re also delighted to see Alabama Shakes somehow achieving full music industry buzzband status, with their decidedly un-hip rock ‘n’ soul sounds turning up in the most unlikely places (like MTV’s Buzzworthy blog). They join the ranks of similarly incongruous buzzbands from over the years, musicians who’ve ridden a wave of hype despite being unfashionable, unmarketable or just plain unlikely candidates for success. We’ve selected some other such bands after the jump — who did we miss? … Read More

Music

A Selection of Music’s Weirdest Lyrical Obsessions

By Tom Hawking on

The vast majority of music is written around some pretty well-worn lyrical themes: love, unrequited love, sex, unrequited lust, etc. But what of other, less obvious subject matter? Some of our finest lyricists (and, um, some of our less fine lyricists) have indulged some pretty wacky lyrical obsessions over the years, either focusing on an unconventional topic for a fleeting period, or cultivating a career-long obsession with an idiosyncratic theme. We’ve explored a few of our favorites after the jump — as ever, we’re open to suggestions. There must be loads more, eh? … Read More

Music

Staff Picks: What's on the Flavorpill Stereo This Month

By Tom Hawking on

We doubt it surprised many of you to learn that we were voracious readers at Flavorpill, and it’ll probably surprise no one to discover that we’re also big music nerds whose collective tastes cover a pretty broad spectrum of genres and sounds. What’s playing over the office stereo is always a topic for, um, polite discussion, especially when certain members of staff insist on playing Gotye repeatedly. Anyway, we thought we’d expand on the idea we started last month of soliciting staff picks for reading matter, and also ask our colleagues around the country what’s been on their stereo over the last few weeks. The results await after the jump — let us know what you’ve been listening to of late! … Read More

Photography

Trippy Photos of Fancy Desserts Spinning on Vinyl Records

By Judy Berman on

We’ve known for a while that music and food go great together. But it never occurred to us to take those pairings to the extreme in quite the way Stockholm-based duo of photographer Philip Karlberg and chef/set designer Mattias Nyhlin have. The images below capture delicate desserts like fruit carpaccio and panna cotta spinning atop records whose songs they help to illustrate, the entire elegantly blurred photo creating the attractive illusion of a place setting in motion. See Dolly Parton collide with candied pears and Whitesnake complement cheesecake in a series called 33 RPM after the jump, then visit Karlberg and Nyhlin‘s websites to learn more about their work. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Harvey Weinstein thinks that Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels should replace Brett Ratner as the producer of this year’s Oscars, and that Tina Fey should be involved with writing material for host Eddie Murphy. No objections here. [via Deadline]

2. Exciting news for fans of Alison Bechdel’s excellent work: Her graphic… Read More