There is never a bad time for a collaboration between David Lynch and Karen O, but the weekend before Halloween is very possibly the best moment for one. With the November 8th release of his solo album right around the corner, “Pinky’s Dream,” a cut that features lead vocals by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman, has surfaced. The song is considerably less cartoonish than the eponymous first single from Crazy Clown Time. With O’s breathy, Kim Gordon-style vocals layered over panicked percussion and shot through with eerie sounds, and a chorus of “Pinky watch the road,” it would make the perfect soundtrack to a warped chase scene in one of Lynch’s own movies. Failing that, the music video for “Pinky’s Dream” pretty much makes itself.
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 bloodthirsty dwarf, George R.R. Martin’s Tyrion Lannister.
This week, VH1 released their list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the ’00s, and as you might imagine, we disagree. Unsurprisingly, the list is heavily skewed towards the pop end of the spectrum, but even in that world, we were confused by a few of the tracks that made the top 100. Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass”? That terrible Evanescence song? Creed? Miley Cyrus but no Radiohead? Luckily, VH1′s top 10 is relatively respectable (we totally accept “Crazy in Love” as the best pop song of the decade, at least on this list), but that doesn’t mean we’re satisfied with it. To quell our snobbish balking (and present another view of the last decade), we decided to put together an alternative top 10 songs of the ’00s, limiting ourselves to tracks that didn’t even make VH1′s 100. Click through to see our picks, and feel free to let us know which songs we totally should have chosen in the comments.
A good record cover will stop you dead in your tracks, and make you curious not only about the music it accompanies, but about the artist who created it. Album art is often our first introduction to a band’s latest collection of songs, giving a visual aspect to the sonic creations inside the sleeve. Some acts take on the daunting task themselves, many with fantastic results, while other musicians enlist painters, photographers, crafters, and illustrators for the project. Even in this time of digital downloads, we’re not immune to the effects of a great album cover, and we find it unfortunate that the people behind these pieces rarely get the credit they deserve — so we’ve rounded-up ten that you should know, after the jump. Keep the list going by adding your suggestions in the comments.
We were intrigued to hear the news last week that Radiohead are planning on releasing a series of 12″ remixes of the songs from The King of Limbs, handing over the album tracks to producers like Flying Lotus and Caribou to cut up and reinterpret. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their love of all things electronic, Radiohead have always been enlightened when it comes to having their tracks reworked, so much so that there are a couple of Radiohead remixes out there that arguably improve on the original versions. These got us thinking about other guitar-based or otherwise rock-inflected tracks that have been improved by remixing – they’re surprisingly few and far between, perhaps because writers of rock songs have been loath to let producers deconstruct them over the years. We’ve collected ten of our favorites; additional suggestions are, as ever, welcome.
You might have noticed that, here at Flavorpill, we occasionally get frustrated with people who perpetuate the myth that everything good in rock ‘n’ roll was done at least 20 years ago, and that there’s no original music these days, etc. The increasing tyranny of this sort of cultural orthodoxy becomes more depressing as the years go by -– and it’s not helped by articles like this alleged round-up of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll riffs of all time, which suggests that no one has written a decent riff since 1991. Anyone who actually listens to contemporary music knows this isn’t even vaguely true -– so to redress the balance, here’s our pick of the best riffs of the 2000s. (Sorry, Muse fans -– but if we hear “Plug In Baby” one more time we’re going to plug ourselves.)
From the very beginning, authenticity has been one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most essential values. Cultural tourists may have their place in any given scene — but they can also expect to get called out. We round up ten of music’s greatest poseur takedowns, from the Kinks’ “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Art Star,” after the jump.
33.3 is an art show of album covers that have been reimagined and reinterpreted by artists and designers, which we first spotted over on Boing Boing. Click through to view 12 of our favorites — which range from the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds to Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast — and let us know in the comments if you think that they improved upon the original versions.
It may seem difficult to imagine now, but Brooklyn hasn’t always been a world-famous hub of independent music. In fact, it was only in the late ’90s, as artists and musicians began to cross the bridge to Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, and beyond that it became the mecca it is today.
Photographer Emily Wilson was there to see the borough’s music scene rise to international renown, and her debut book, Grand and Lorimer: Brooklyn’s Art and Music Scene 1998-2005, provides an inside glimpse into that exciting time. Featuring delightfully spontaneous photos of everyone from crossover sensations like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio to more experimental bands such as Liars and Black Dice, the book is a record of North Brooklyn’s glory days — when artists could still afford to live there, and before every other building was half-empty high-rise. Click through for a gallery of photos from Grand and Lorimer, one of which, improbably enough, features Marilyn Manson. The book comes out November 20th, and New Yorkers can stop by Pete’s Candy Store between 4-7pm the same day for the release party.
Horror movies get all the Halloween love, but music videos, with their dramatic soundtracks, surreal feel, and license to be non-narrative can be just as scary as your classic slasher flick. Everyone’s seen “Thriller”— and to be honest, we’ve always been too busy snickering at MJ telling us he’s “not like other guys” to be frightened. So we’ve put together a more under-the-radar collection of clips that give us the creeps. Watch nine scary indie rock music videos, from Sonic Youth to Bat for Lashes to Animal Collective, after the jump.
