Wilco’s new video for “Dawned on Me” combines some of the things dearest to our hearts: Jeff Tweedy and old black-and-white Popeye shorts. It’s a clip that’s both fun and visually interesting, not to mention the first hand-drawn Popeye cartoon that’s appeared in the last 30-something years. But Wilco is far from the first band to hit upon the idea of including animation in their music videos. Cartoons in videos stretch back from the days of a-ha’s “Take On Me” through Björk and Radiohead. After the jump, check out ten of the best animated music videos we’ve ever seen — tell us about your personal favorites in the comments.
The History Channel’s American Pickers shares the exploits of two guys who travel across the U.S. searching for antique gems in heaps of trash, garages and basements. Next Monday, hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz will be heading to Third Man Records headquarters in Nashville to pay a visit to Jack White. The White Stripes, Dead Weather, and Raconteurs founder will be bargaining with the duo, offering his personal artifacts. The photo booth used in Dead Weather’s video for “Hang You From the Heavens” will apparently be on the bargaining table. THR reports that White will make an exchange for one of the most “memorable” treasures ever to appear in the series. Tune in January 9 at 9PM to find out more, and reacquaint yourself with the video past the break. Read More »
When the news broke that Neil Young is writing an all-encompassing memoir, it got us thinking about what other musicians — and specifically which of our favorite current indie rockers — we’d like to see compose tell-all autobiographies. Mysterious band break-ups, high-profile couplings gone awry, reclusive behavior, extensive touring, and cult childhoods exposed would all make for awesome, page-turning reads for those of us who have always been curious about the private goings-on behind the music. So, in hopes of giving our favorite potential memoirists a gentle push, we’ve complied a list of ten artists whose lives who we’d love to learn more about.
We’re not being hyperbolic when we say Dangerous Minds saved our sweaty, potentially miserable, 101-degree New York City Friday by posting some wonderful work by Jason Mecier. Using everything from household trash to food to cosmetics to pills, Mecier creates witty and appropriate collage portraits of cultural icons: Jerry Seinfeld in cereal, Andy Warhol in Campbell’s soup cans and plastic bananas, Dolly Parton in hairspray, Courtney Love in pills. His work is heavy on gay icons (hello, RuPaul in makeup), and each piece is so delightful we struggled to limit our gallery to 20 pieces. Check out our favorite Mecier portraits after the jump, and then do yourself a favor and head to his website, which truly has something for everyone. Oh, and one final note of warning: The last page of this post is a wee bit NSFW.
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: Kafka’s poor victim of metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa.
Before Michel Gondry made perplexing and underwhelming feature films like The Green Hornet and The Science of Sleep, he made perplexing and almost universally amazing music videos. With The Green Hornet coming out on DVD today, we figured it was a good time to remind ourselves of just how brilliant Gondry’s work on the musical side of things was –- and, indeed, continues to be. Watch ten of our favorite Gondry music videos, both well-known masterpieces and overlooked gems, after the jump.
Former LA Times pop critic Ann Powers came storming out of the gate yesterday with the first post for her new gig at NPR Music. Titled “It’s the Summer of Selling Out, and It Feels Fine,” her piece uses last weekend’s Coachella festival and the current crop of American Idol frontrunners to argue that 2011 is shaping up to be a good year “for all kinds of fans who like their music to feel free while it still aims for the center of the culture’s attention.” Part of Powers’s point is that “selling out” and making great music don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Although we have immense respect for the underground, we think Powers makes an important point. The tale of a talented but naïve band signing their lives away to a major label and then collapsing under the pressure to sell product is a common narrative, but it’s also far from the only outcome. After the jump, we list ten bands that ditched the indies for the majors, licensed their music to commercials, and went pop — and were better off for it, artistically.
So, we took out The White Stripes with yesterday’s trash, and already, Jack White has announced he’s teaming up with Danger Mouse for some crazy Jack White collaboration project we’d pretty much expect from someone like Jack White. His label, Third Man, is also as busy as ever churning out bizarre singles (featuring anamatronic monkey-musicians!). And all we can think is: but what about Meg White, everyone’s favorite “minimalist” female drummer who was definitely not just “kind of there?”
Meggles, it’s crunch time. Hate to tell you, but you’re the favorite member of this duo to be voted “Most Likely To Fall Off The Face Of The Earth.” After the jump, take a look at some of the next moves we’ve thought up for you — it’ll be for your own good.
If the recent news of the White Stripes’ break up has left you weeping over your garage rock/blues collection in dismay, take heart. We’re here to remind you that there are plenty of lesser-known grit-rock stompers in line to fill in for your Jack and Meg fix. From the frenetic, punk-inspired garage rock stylings of Billy Childish to the rambunctious Memphis reel of The Reigning Sound, these bands are sure to distract you from your woe for a while. And who knows? They might just fill that Stripes-shaped hole in your record collection/heart.
It’s before noon on a Wednesday. There’s a good chance you’re not far from your next cup of coffee. Or from your last one. We’ve all become addicted to the delicious goodness and the caffeine high it generates with each delectable sip. It’s no surprise then that musicians have found a love of the deep black drink as well. Maybe it’s not as high on the songwriting subject list as sex or love or breakups or drugs, but some musicians have such passion for the drink that it has made for some tremendous tunes. Here, what we think are the best ones.
