In a year full of amazing albums — and specifically amazing albums by female artists — we somehow didn’t fully absorb St. Vincent’s inventive, subversive, and beautiful Strange Mercy until recently. It struck us as strange that in this time when practically every day brings another Internet controversy over one female artist or another, the obviously feminist themes of this excellent album have gone unmentioned. Hopefully this video, in which those motifs are on full display (no pun intended), will stir up that discussion. Though it was probably filmed awhile ago, the video’s exploration of how being made the object of constant scrutiny can destroy you feels particularly relevant after weeks of arguing over the minute details of a certain woman’s self-presentation. St. Vincent is an artist who transcends what society thinks of her appearance to constantly challenge their listeners — and we’re hoping she’ll keep up the good work.
Portlandia is a show that works almost as a series of inside jokes. The sketches are all knowing winks to the audience about the culture they presumably know all about, in which your friend has begun pickling everything and people can “put a bird on anything and call it art.” But it also works because Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are the kind of people who you’d like to share an inside joke with. Both are unquestionably cool in their own right, but it’s their friendship, both on and off television, that’s an equally compelling force behind their television success. In interviews and on the show, they seem like two BFFs having fun as much as professionals with a television show, riffing off each other and cracking wise. But not all twosomes translate as well off the HDTV screen, so it’s a relief that the Portlandia live show, which wrapped up its first leg in New York this weekend, shows the friends to be every bit as fun as they seem. After the jump, the best moments from the show at The Bowery Ballroom, plus what Armisen and Brownstein had to say about spirit animals, overanalyzing text messages, and a possible Portlandia movie.
Feist’s new album Metals is out this week, and although it’s already getting a slew of good reviews, as we confessed earlier this week, we’ve never been massive fans of the Canadian singer/songwriter. We don’t think she’s terrible, but we do think there are plenty of other great female singer/songwriters out there who are deserving of your attention. In view of this, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to bring together a selection of our favorites — if you like Feist, we reckon you’ll enjoy the work of the artists after the jump. On a related note: what do they put in the water in Sweden?!
If you missed the Wilco album streaming over the weekend, then never fear — even though it’s Labor Day, your loyal Flavorpill compadres have still scoured the internet for the best albums streaming for free this week. We really have searched far and wide this time around, too, and come up with plentiful goodness — there’s the new Drums record, which we included in our recent round-up of albums you really should be listening to in September, along with albums from St Vincent, Laura Marling, M83 (oops — this one’s gone), and the ever-lovely Gui Boratto. Click through for a piece of the action!
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, libraries have been busy at work “rebranding themselves for the iPod generation,” and it seems to be paying off. In fact, data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services shows that library visits and circulation were up nearly 20 percent nationally from 1999 to 2008. Exciting news! We decided that we’d use it as an excuse to post a roundup sure to appeal to iPod-toting bookworms; after the jump, find some of our favorite music videos set in libraries and bookstores.
1. Poison lead singer and current Celebrity Apprentice contestant Bret Michaels suffered a brain hemorrhage over the weekend, describing the headache that precipitated the injury as “like [getting] hit in the head with a baseball bat over and over again.” [via People]
2. NPR is streaming the New Pornographers‘ first album since 2007, Together; guest spots include St. Vincent and Beirut. [via NPR]
3. Why does Josh Groban get to be in a movie with Ryan Gosling? I want to be in a movie with Ryan Gosling (and Steve Carell and Marisa Tomei and the funny girl from Superbad). [via Variety]
4. The New York City MTA just released its findings in subway traffic for 2009: the Brooklyn-bound J/M/Z line experienced record highs while Financial District stations dropped off significantly. [via New York Times]
5. For those of you who prefer your series finales spoiled, check out the leaked call sheet from the last episode of ABC’sLost. [via Gawker]
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s star-studded collaborative concept album about the life of Imelda Marcos may sound strange, but it’s no less stunning for it.
Featuring a staggering list of guest vocalists that includes Santigold, Tori Amos, Nellie McKay, Florence Welch, St. Vincent, Cyndi Lauper, Róisín Murphy, Sia, and Sharon Jones, the double-disc set plays like a stage show minus the stage, telling the story of the former Filipino first lady’s rise and fall — often through lyrics based on her own words.
French website Grandcrew.com provides a growing archive of exclusive, professionally filmed concert videos, with artists ranging from Roots Manuva to the XX.
All of the site’s videos are available to stream instantly for free, with the option to skip from track to track making the interface even more user-friendly. Covering nearly every genre of modern music, Grandcrew offers a wide variety of the best performances to hit France, with plans to expand to cover all of Europe in the near future.
Talking Heads alum David Byrne and dance beat guru Fatboy Slim are finally releasing Here Lies Love, their disco-influenced concept album based on the life of ex-Philippine first lady/shoe-hoarding diva Imelda Marcos and her life-long servant, Estrella Cumpas. If your first reaction is to rub your eyeballs and re-read that last sentence, we felt the same way.
Though, after some thought, we realized that this is just what we’ve come to expect from the awesomely eccentric Byrne. The new-wave hero played a rough draft of the project in a New York City showcase at Carnegie Hall in 2007, receiving decent reviews (it was a rough draft, after all). The original goal was to stage the songs as a musical, and while there have been a couple of theatrical performances with a few different ladies at the helm, the official album release features vocals by 23 artists.
