Dandy Warhols’ frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor sets his graphic novel One Model Nation — also the name of the fictitious electronic/Kraftwerk-style band at the center of the story — in late ’70s Berlin. Originally intended as a screenplay, Taylor-Taylor hooked up with Jim Rugg of Afrodisaic and Street Angel fame to illustrate his historical fiction tale, inspired by the guerrilla mayhem connected to real-life organization, the Baader-Meinhof Group. The titular band becomes unwittingly embroiled in the hunt for the underground faction, making them public enemy number one.
Titan Books has published a new hardcover reissue of One Model Nation, complete with behind the scenes sketches and storyboards, a historical background, and loads of commentary — including from Taylor-Taylor himself. There’s a foreword written by Red Rocket 7 creator Michael Allred — who also drew the cameo of a certain ’70s music god. Pre-order a copy of One Model Nationover here (it hits stands January 31). If you want to check out the musical accompaniment that goes with it, behold the skinny tie greatness of Totalwerks Vol. 1.
In anticipation of One Model Nation‘s release, we wanted to dig into Courtney’s mind grapes a little further to uncover the inspirations of his graphic novel roots. He shared some of his favorite titles with us past the break. Check them out, and let him know what you think in the comments below.
Conservative political parties using liberal musicians’ songs without their permission: not just an American phenomenon anymore. Earlier this week, Primal Scream made news for speaking out against the British Tories, who were said to have used their song “Rocks” as exit music for a speaker at a party conference. :Didn’t they research the political history of our band?” the anti-capitalist band asked in a statement. “Hasn’t she listened to the words? Does she even know what getting your rocks off means? No. She is a Tory; how could she?” Hilariously, it turns out the song the Tory party played wasn’t “Rocks” at all — it was the Dandy Warhols’ “Bohemian Like You,” which strikes us as an odd choice indeed for conservatives.
Now, Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor has responded, and he’s even angrier than Primal Scream! “WTF? Where do I bitch about this? I’ll tear their fuggin heads off. Well maybe not but this happened to us in an Arkansas gubernatorial race and it makes me super angry. And then I wanna puke,” he writes in a message on the band’s website. And then, just for the record, he gets all non-partisan with his anger. “Jesus, I tend to really dislike ANY people who take sides in politics. It is the single greatest contributor to getting nothing done. Fuck ‘politics’. What a joke. I give my charitable donations to people who get on a plane themselves and go to Haiti or Africa and help other people.” Huh. So, does this mean we will be seeing Courtney at Occupy Wall Street, or not? Debate amongst yourselves. [via The Daily Swarm]
Watching the video for “Synchronize,” Discodeine’s new collaboration with Jarvis Cocker, we couldn’t help but be taken with its darkly beautiful, drug-laced imagery. And it occurred to us that, despite the undeniable synergy between drug-taking and music-making, we actually don’t see too many controlled substances in music videos — perhaps because that shit is bound to get you banned from TV, not to mention condemned as a horrible influence. Now, we certainly don’t endorse (or even, in all cases, understand) the behavior in the clips below, but we can’t deny that they do make drugs look awfully glamorous.
This week marks our 30th mixtape. We may not be getting all “XXX,” Roman-style, but we have managed to narrow the week’s choicest mp3s down to our ten favorites. Keep your eyes peeled for new material from the Arcade Fire, Maximum Balloon (Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio), and some long-lost cousins of Phoenix. Right Click + Save As individual songs, or scroll to the bottom to get the entire mixtape, after the jump.
OK, we’ll admit that a few weeks back we posted an item that was anti-holiday music. Maybe we were having a bad day. Or maybe it was the fact that a cheeky Flavorpill staffer had decided to put on the Chipmunk’s Christmas album. But over the past few days we’ve come across some new (and free!) indie gems that it would be positively Scrooge-like not to share with you guys. Check ‘em out after the jump and leave us links to any songs you’ve found in the comments please.
