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Posted by Robsam at 01:27 AM

November 15, 2006

Tasty Celeb Gossip Linkage for the Mid-Week ...

Supermodel Naomi Campbell Tries to Plea-Bargain Her Way Out of Jail Sentence ...
Porn Producer Offered Alleged Sex Tape of Britney Spears and K-Fed ...
Tom Cruise Reportedly Too Fat to Fit INto His Wedding Suite ...
Nicole Richie Denies Talk of gastric-Bypass Surgery ...
Paris Hilton Goes Out on Date in London ...
The What Made Lindsay Lohan Call Paris Hilton the C-Word ...
The OC's Mischa Barton "Tired" of Being Skinny ...

Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:59 PM

November 12, 2006

Delectable Celebrity Gossip Linkage to Kick-Off the Week ...

BRITNEY SPEARS FOUND K-FED WITH OTHER WOMAN WEEKEND BEFORE DIVORCE
Charlie Sheen-ex Denise Richards Throws Laptop at 91-Year Old Lady ...
Oh, It's On Again: Lindsay Lohan Spits C-word About Paris Hilton ...
Madonna Disses Her Fellow Celebs ...
Snoop Dogg in Trouble with the Law Again ...
Nicole vs Nicole: Nicole Appleton Disses Nicole Richie for Being Too Skinny ...

Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:34 PM

The Definition of "Shizzolator"

Just to make gosh-darn sure we're all on the same page with our use of Snoop Dogg-inspired hip-hop patois
here is the definition of "shizzolator," which may differ with some popular, generally accepted interpretations of the term's meaning.

Posted by Supercore at 02:23 PM

November 09, 2006

The Music Used in That GEICO Caveman "Airport" TV Commercial is ...

We've been getting a surprising number of email inquires from the Massive asking if we know what song is used in that recent GEICO Caveman television commercial, the one where the Caveman is at the airport. The music is from a song called "Remind Me" by Royksopp, an indie electronic-pop duo from Norway. The song is on their 2002 CD titled "Melody AM." It's an excellent album from one of our favorite music artists of the moment. We highly recommend it.

Posted by Supercore at 12:01 AM

November 08, 2006

Hey, Your Radiohead is in My Dub-Reggae! And Your Dub-Reggae is in My Radiohead!

You've got to love this concept. Various well-regarded, contemporary reggae musicians record a reggae- and dub-styled version of "OK Computer," the late-1990's indie classic album by Radiohead. They call it Radiodread. Yup, Radiodread. Uh huh, RadioDREAD, as in buffalo soldier, DREADlock rasta. And it's freaking brilliant. You've got to hear it.

Posted by Supercore at 11:23 PM

It's the End of Britney Spears and K-Fed As We Know It -- Britney Files For Divorce!

That's right, kids. Britney Spears and her husband of roughly two years, Kevin Federline (or "K-Fed") are getting a divorce. You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind and holed up in a remote Himalayan mountain village not to have known this was coming. My, oh my, how times have changed -- and so very quickly, too -- since the day Spears and Federline announced their love to the world on their Web site. We remember thinking then about Federline what we still think now -- Eeeeewwww!!! His whole background reeked, but nothing more so than the fact that he left his then pregnant girlfriend (preggers with their second child) to be with Spears. He was a back-up dancer who could claim to have appeared in a Target television commercial in addition to have danced in Spears' performance troupe. As for Spears, well, in spite of whatever talents, real or otherwise, that she may possess, there's no denying that she is a pop star. But maybe we should re-phrase that -- she was a pop star. Since K-Fed entered her life, her singing career has mostly been non-existent, while her public image has imploded. She has become a celebrity joke. As a brand, she went the way of tabloid trash. But now she's making a comeback. After the recent birth of her second child with Federline, she's reportedly slimmed down, fit and ready to re-enter the spotlight with a new album. However much we can't stand her music, her persona or pretty much anything she stands for, we have to wish the girl luck. Britney, you go girl!

Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:42 AM

November 07, 2006

Can Lady Sovereign Make It in America?

We're fans of U.K. rapper Lady Sovereign. Buzz about her has been building among the underground music cognoscenti in America for well over a year now. But it is with her second disc and her first full album on Def Jam (approved by Jay Z himself) that she formally and finally makes her big debut in the U.S.A. The question is can she make it as a star in America? Or will she meet with only moderate success and remain an indie hip-hop star, in spite of much critical acclaim. This was the case with several British hip-hop and rap artists to hop the pond, as it were, in the past few years, notably The Streets (aka Mike Skinner), Dizzee Rascal, and M.I.A. We love the music of all of these artists, especially M.I.A., whose music, courtesy of DJ Diplo, is some of the freshest we've heard in years. But none of them have managed to appeal to an audience much wider than the urban hipster base in the U.S. Lady Sovereign might change that. We'd love to see her on BET.

Posted by Supercore at 11:17 PM

November 03, 2006

Yum Yum ... Juicy Gossip Linkage for the End O' the Work Week ...

Scarlett Johansson's Cleavage in Full Effect
Topher Grace and Ivanka Trump Allegedly Involved with Each Other
Hong Kong Concert Promoter Calls Mariah Carey a "Diva Bitch"
Sharon Stone's See-Through Cocktail Dress
TomKat Update: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes to have "Wacky" Traditional Scientology Wedding

Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:39 AM

October 29, 2006

Timeline of Madonna's Quest to Adopt African Baby

Just in case the controversy and ever-changing soap opera-like drama surrounding Madonna and her adoption of a Malawian baby was way too much to absor but simultaneously way too important to ignore, the BBC has a handy interactive, multimedia timeline delineating each micro-event in the ongoing Madonna African baby-adoption saga.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 04:04 AM

October 27, 2006

NYC Music Scene in the Post-CBGB's Era

Now that the legendary CBGB's music club has closed, the New York Times loks at the current landscape of live music clubs in New York City and finds the scene as vibrant as ever. The article comes with a cool multimedia map of some of the city's more popular and newest clubs. Our only problem with this is that the map should be more comprehensive and fails to include some of the most important and influential venues for independent music, such as Tonic, the Knitting Factory, Joe's Pub, Warsaw, Pianos, The Living Room, and Arlene Grocery.

Posted by Supercore at 09:58 PM

October 23, 2006

The Best Bad Review of Paris Hilton's Music Debut

Leave it to veteran music scribe Aidin Vaziri writing in the San Francisco Chronicle to pen the funniest and best negative review of Paris Hilton's recently released self-titled CD. This is one of the cheekiest and most irreverent pans of an album we've read in a long time. Good one, Aidin.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 07:58 PM

October 20, 2006

The Thinking Behind a New Computerized Way to Predict Hit Movies and Hit Pop Music

There's an exhaustive and fascinating article in the New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell (he of The Tipping Point fame) about efforts to predict which movies will be hits with audiences and which will be flops. A similar endeavor has been underway with predicting pop music hits using computer software programs developed by a couple of companies, one of them a New York City startup called Platinum Blue, which successfully predicted that Gnarls Barkley's hit single "Crazy" would be a major success. Can the same be done with movies.

Posted by Robsam at 01:48 AM

October 19, 2006

Jay Z Gets a Marketing Job for Beer Brand

That's right, homies. Jay Z is taking on another job title, but this time it's for a company of which he owns no part and it's not involved in music, fashion, basketball or vodka. Jay Z, a.k.a. Shaun Carter, is going into advertising and marketing. He's going to become is going to be "co-brand director" for the Budweiser Select beer line at Anheuser-Busch. The company is HQed in St. Louis, which is territory for rapper Nelly and Chingy, so one has to wonder if these guys will feel at all slighted by not being hooked up with one of the great, iconic brands of their hometown, especially 'cause they like it right thurrr.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:39 AM

October 13, 2006

The End of CBGB's

Though by now it's no surprise, the official last day and final performances at legendary downtown New York City music venue CBGB's have been confirmed. The club is closing after 33 years in business due to the end of its lease. The full cryptic name of the club is CBGB OMFUG, which few seemed to know were initials that stand for "country, bluegrass, blues and other music for uplifting gormandizers." The club has still been a very active venue in the decades since it was the epicenter of the downtown new music scene, the place most associated with the rise to fame in America of bands such as The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television and Patti Smith. Sting and The Police, as well as the Sex Pistol's Sid Vicious, had once played the club on early US tours. And many famous acts have played there early in their careers, including the Beastie Boys and The Strokes. But the most important and relevant venues for New York's underground and emerging music scenes have long since moved to other clubs thoughout downtown Manhattan and, more notably, throughout Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which seems to have more musicians either living, recording, rehearsing or performing in a half mile radius than anywhere else in America. Everyone is mourning the closure of CBGB's, but in a sense it died a long time ago. CBGB's is now a brand that can be found on t-shirts worn in suburban middle America to suburban Tokyo. That owner Hilly Kristal is considering re-opening CBGB's in Las Vegas says everything about the value of the name and its future. Neverthless, the club is a New York institution and an icon of underground music. CBGB's Gallery, an adjacent space, has already shuttered it's doors for the last time. This weekend CBGB's will too, R.I.P.

Posted by Robsam at 12:21 AM

September 26, 2006

Cat Power Sobers Up and Resumes Touring

We're very happy to see singer-songwriter that Chan Marshall, a.k.a., Cat Power, has returned to touring. More importantly, we're happy to see that she's become sober after years of alcoholism. Despite a career of beautiful, critically acclaimed albums, when it came to performing live, Cat Power was a shambles. Marshall's concerts were notorious hit-or-miss events, with the singer often behaving erratically and giving sloppy and bewildering performances that left many fans disappointed. Earlier this year her tour to promote the album "The Greatest" was mysteriously cancelled citing sudden illness. In truth, Marshall suffered an alcoholic meltdown an dwent into hospital rehab and recovery. The New York Times has an excellent video interview with Cat Power, who looks better than ever. Welcome back, Chan!

(Tip of the hat to Jess for the tip.)

Posted by Supercore at 09:50 PM

August 17, 2006

Madonna's Law-Breaking German Tour

Madonna's Eurpoean tour is currently in full swing, with the material girl about to start the German leg of her concert series. But the authorities there are "monitoring" her shows to see if her performances may be in violation of a German law against engaging in behavior insulting to a person's religious beliefs, specifically Catholicism. In her recent U.K. concerts, Madonna has performed a song while being mock crucified on stage.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:04 AM

August 11, 2006

OK Go's Amazing Treadmill-Dancing Video for "Here It Goes Again"

We recently posted on Air Massive about the Chicago band OK Go. We've really liked their music, which Friend of the Massive (FOM) Jess turned us onto. A couple of weeks ago Jess also tipped us about OK Go's most recent music video for the tune ''Here It Goes Again." If you haven't seen it yet, it's an amazing and clever clip of the quartet dancing in a carefully choreographed routine. The band did a similar dance number for the video for their previous single, "A Million Ways," which went on to become a massive viral hit via the Internet. The video for "Here It is Again" takes the dance idea one step further (no pun intended): the four members of OK Go do their dance on eight moving treadmills. The routine in "Here It is Again" is so good that it defintiely tops the dance in "A Million Ways." Dude, if they could pull this off in a live performance, we'd be even more impressed. As the OK Go explained to Entertainment Weekly in a Q&A, the band spent eight days choreographing the dance. Since the group had limited means, they bought the eight treadmills used just for the video shoot with the understanding that they'd be able to sell them back after they finished the video. (Merci beaucoup,, Jess.)

Posted by Supercore at 03:43 PM

August 04, 2006

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" as Performed by Hurra Torpedo, Nordic Kitchen Appliance Band

Call it music or call it performance art -- call it sublime crap even!-- but there's no denying that Norwegian band Hurra Torpedo's rendition of cheesy 1980's pop classic (and retro-karaoke hit) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is torturously mesmerizing in its thunderous mix of melody and aural abrasiveness. Seriously, we had to watch the video twice. Dubbed "Norway's most famous kitchen appliance band," Hurra Torpedo is a trio. What makes their cover of "Total Eclipse" the singular sensation is its percussion. Two members bang away with cooking gear -- pans, pots, whatever -- on a set of battered stoves, while a frontman, Egil Hegerberg, handles vocal duties and plays guitar. Hurra Torpedo has made a name for itself by turning concert performances into art stunts (or, perhaps, the other way around). A few years ago they made headlines for featuring live sex acts on stage during their performance at a music festival. We'd love to know what song the band was covering for that show, "Afternoon Delight," perhaps? (Domo arigato to Jeff for the tip.)

Posted by Supercore at 04:30 PM

August 02, 2006

Getting Our Earful of the OK Go

We've spent the past few days holed up in our apartment with a nasty sore throat, killing the time by catching up on tunes from the band OK Go. The band's recent album "Oh No" was produced by Tore Johansson, the same Swedish producer behind Franz Ferdinand and the Cardigans. The OK Go have their own raw, energetic sound, but they share that same crispy, tightly-wound sound of not only Franz Ferdinand but a number of power pop-rock acts to emerge from the U.K. in the past couple of years, though OK Go is American (from Chicago, no less). But OK Go seem to have a lot more sizzle and power behind the pop veneer. Their tunes are catchier, heavier, fuller -- we can only imagine how Ok Go must sound when they take the stage. Would to see 'em. (Tip of the Kangol to Jess E. for tip.)

Posted by Supercore at 01:00 AM

July 13, 2006

Beyond Cheesy: David Hasselhoff's "Secret Agent Man" Music Video

Really, you've got to see it to believe it. Former "Baywatch" and "Knightrider" star, and 1980's and 90's German pop-music sensation, David Hasselhoff has recorded a cover version of the tune "Secret Agent Man" and filmed a video for the song. The "It's so good it's bad" idea doesn't even apply here. It's just a really, really, really cheesy bad pop music video. And, yet, we can't help but watch the cheesy badness. It's what an old college roommate of ours would call "strangely compelling." That's entertainment, we suppose.

Posted by Robsam at 03:58 AM

July 12, 2006

Syd Barrett, R.I.P.

Syd Barrett, the seminal 1960's British pyschedelic musician and founding member of Pink Floyd, passed away this past week in England. The BBC has published a detailed obituary. Barrett became a famous recluse after leaving the group due to drug problems and mental illness. The subsequent and now classic Pink Floyd songs "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here," from the band's influential 1975 album "Wish Your Were Here," were oblique references to their former bandmate Barrett. Rest in peace, Syd.

Posted by Robsam at 07:30 PM

June 18, 2006

The Story of Danger Mouse

Music journalist Chuck Klosterman does a thorough and illuminating (and, for Klosterman, relatively humorless) profile of Danger Mouse, a.k.a. Brian Burton, one-half of Gnarls Barkley in today's New York Times Magazine. The mystery behind the name Gnarls Barkley is explained in the storty, as is the genesis behind Danger Mouse's "Grey Album." An interesting, cheeky quirk of the Gnarls Barkley duo, which include singer Cee-Lo, is that they will only allow themselves to be photographed while dressed in costumers of characters from movies, such as the Pink Panther, Superman or the Wizard of Oz. That's a cool little branding gimmick..

Posted by Supercore at 11:18 PM

June 02, 2006

The "Best-Worst" and "Worst" Bands Names of '06

Leave it to the Onion's pop-literate entertainment guide, the A.V. Club, for a meaty listing and assessment of crappy or insipid (or both) band names to emerge this year. The free weekly humor tab has even narrowed the field into two sub-categories of "Worst" and "Best-Worst," that is, the crappiest of crappy or the least crappy of the crappy, depending on your interpretation. We'll just think of "Best-Worst" names as those so bad they're ... er, well, um ... interesting. Among the names that really put smiles on our faces when we read them were Arsonists Get All The Girls and 16 Bitch Pile-Up. But our favorite bad band name is (drumroll, please) ... Mariospeedwagon. Now that's something we'd like to see on a tee shirt.

Posted by Supercore at 12:31 AM

May 31, 2006

Making Sense of Finnish Band Lordi

The improbable winner of the annual Eurovision song contest for 2006 is a Finnish "melodic hard rock" band call Lordi. The band members dress in gruesome masked-costumes that make them look like a cartoon gang of brawny, deformed Goths who accidentally stepped off of the set of a Rob Zombie movie.

Lordi's winning song entry was a heavy, hooky tune called "Hard Rock Hallelujah." (Anthemic metal, anyone? ) Initial reaction from the Finns to news of Lordi's win suggested that the northern European nation was as embarassed as it was shocked.

According to the band's Web site, Lordi will spend most of this summer touring Finland and Germany. The group has a new CD set for release in the U.K. on June 6 (yes, that's right, on the satanic 6/6/6. Coincidence? Or marketing savvy?), so there will likely be some appearances in Britain as well.

In a BBC interview, Lordi frontman Mr. Lordi explained that the band's influences include Freddie Kruger, the Incredible Hulk and Monster from the Muppet Show .

Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:35 PM

April 27, 2006

Wax Poetics Magazine Breaks Down the "Mystery of Beat Shopping"

We just discovered an interesting article in Wax Poetics magazine's online archive about hunting for beats in old, used records bins. Wax Poetics is a music mag that covers "Hip-hop, Jazz, Soul, & Funk" and often has musicans and DJs pen its articles. The article, titled "The Mystery of Beat Shopping, Volume 2, Comps," looks at the way DJs and vinyl collectors "bin dive" and sift through compilations albums in efforts to discover a coveted or obscure track with unique beats and drum breaks, which the DJ/musician then can sample, loop and mix into a new tune set of music. The article is a few years old, but fascinating and still ever-so relevant.

Posted by Supercore at 02:39 AM

April 25, 2006

New Music: Gnarls Barkley and "Crazy"

Gnarls Barkley is the moniker for a collabo between DJ and producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse and hip-hop heavyweight Cee-Lo. The duo and their first single, "Crazy," have been getting a lot of attention recently in the U.K. For the fourth week straight, "Crazy" has come in at the top of the British singles chart. The track is from the full-length Gnarls Barkley album "St. Elsewhere." What's really impressive about this song is not so much that it's a massive hit, but rather that it has topped the charts based on sales as an Internet download, and in doing so has made U.K. music history.

Posted by Supercore at 11:10 PM

April 18, 2006

Music: Cat Power - "The Greatest"

'K, careful and regular readers may have noticed we put the new Cat Power CD "The Greatest" in the On Our Stereo list in the left-hand sidebar a while ago. But we've really been putting in a lot of time with the latest album to arrive from the mellow yet mercurial Chan Marshall, a.k.a., Cat Power. "The Greatest" may be her strongest, most accessible collection of tunes since she kicked off her career as a teenager in the early 1990's. While the CD is unmistakeable Cat Power -- with that deep, heavy, worn, lusty and barely above-a-whisper voice -- the disc is far cry from her first album "What Would the Community Think." The indie heartbreak is still cast all over these songs in typical Chan Marshall style, but the set is punctuated by upbeat, bluesy and soulful ditties arranged and recorded with hints of R&B and a Memphis-country twang, at times reminiscent of Wilco's "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel." The tracks "Could We," "Willie" and "The Greatest" have sucked us in, racking up the most times played in our iTunes tally this past week. So, I guess we really like those three songs a lot. Another Cat Power tune that we've played often recently, but which is not on "The Greatest," is her beautiful, melancholic cover of the Oasis hit "Wonderwall," which she recored during one of those famous John Peel Sessions for the BBC in London.

Posted by Supercore at 01:01 AM

U2's "One" Tops U.K. Survey of Top 100 Favorite Song Lyrics

It's an interesting idea. A VH1 poll of famous musicians, industry professionals and 13,000 music fans on their favorite song lyrics. U2 is number one with a lyric from their song "One." The most loved lyric is "One Life, with Each Other Sisters, Brothers." Top five favorite lyrics on the list include lines from songs by the Smiths, Nirvana and Bob Marley and Coldpay.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:25 AM

April 13, 2006

Tigers & Monkeys' "Fire Escape" with SNL's Fred Armisen

Tigers and Monkeys is a fresh New York City indie band with a bluesy, Southern-accented vocal flavor that's been opening shows for the likes of The Shins in recent months. The band is the project of frontperson Shonali Bhowmik, a member of the indie-pop act Ultrababyfat. We've been getting hooked on Tigers and Monkey's tune "Fire Escape" and watching the song's music video in which Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen appears, hangs out in his apartment and plays ping pong with the band. It's a good clip for a good tune. Mark your calendars: Tigers and Monkeys will play at Southpaw in Park Slope, Brooklyn on May 3rd. (Mad props to Kara K. for the tip.)

Posted by Supercore at 02:07 AM

Pink's "Stupid Girls" Video Slams Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Olsens, et. al.

We weren't huge fans of pop-singer Pink, but we love the music video for her new single "Stupid Girls." The song and video clip pokes fun at vapid tabloided celebs like the Olsen twins, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton, with Pink impersonating all of them to great comic effect. Great stuff. Play the the video in the embedded player above or visit the You Tube site.

Posted by icorsa at 01:34 AM

Eminem's Best Man, Proof, Shot Dead on 8 Mile Road

What's going on with all the shooting at Eminem's posse? Eminem collaborator and rapper Obie Trice ("Real name, no gimmcks!" etc.) was recently shot and wounded. Now comes news that Deshaun Holton, the hip-hop artist known as Proof, was murdered at a night club in the 8 Mile Road area of Detroit. The startling irony is that Proof appeared in, and collaborated on the soundtrack for, the award-winning auto-biographical Eminem film "8 Mile." Proof was the best man at Em's recent wedding, and he was the founding member of the rap unit D12, which often appeared with Em on recordings and on tour.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 01:00 AM

April 05, 2006

Death Row Records Gets Stay of Execution: Suge Knight Files for Bankruptcy

The founder and head of one of the most influential music labels of 1990's hip-hop, the controversial ex-con Suge Knight, has put his record company, Death Row Records, under bankruptcy protection in the U.S. For someone who has spent years in prison for a number of crimes and whose currency in the rap game is virtually non-existent, you would think that Knight had pretty much hit rock bottom, but, no, things are getting worse. Not only did a court action in 2005 rule that he would have to pay out over $100 million to former Death Row business partners and not only were his assets frozen last year, but now, to protect himself and Death Row from total ruin, he's had to file for bankruptcy. That's actually good news for Knight. Yes, it could be worse for the gansta' rap mogul -- He could have lost control of the company completely. It will be interesting to see if Knight can sort this mess out and turn a titanic situation around to into a titanic success once more. Knight's role in bringing Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tupac and the gangsta' rap game to the mainstream was a major force in the evolution of hip-hop and had a tremendous influence on pop culture.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 07:44 AM

March 16, 2006

New Goldfrapp Disc "Supernature" Makes Us Hot

Goldfrapp make the sexiest music in the world. There, we said it. It's true. The British indie synth-pop duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory has been making music for over seven years now and last week they released their third full-length disc, "Supernature," in the U.S. (the album was released in the U.K. last year to much critical acclaim and commercial success). The new CD is being hailed by critics as their best collection of songs yet. (PlayLouder has an excelllent review of "Supernature.") Although they have been lumped under the faded term "electronica" and the more recent but mostly meaningless "electroclash" label (a la Fischerspooner) Goldfrapp create music that is neither, but rather a hot, lusty electro-glam sound that is fully-realized post-modern cabaret pop.

Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:33 AM

March 12, 2006

Arctic Monkeys Rock Saturday Night Live

The hyped-up British rock act Arctic Monkeys are in a America to promote their CD "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not." We caught their first nationally broadcast performance on U.S. television earlier tonight when they performed on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. The Arctic Monkeys took the stage two separate times, playing a song each time. It was a solid live performance by the Sheffiled, England quartet. The set included their massive U.K. hit "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." The second appearance ended with ther band's lead guitarist, Jamie "Cookie" Cook making a show of thrashing his axe into a stack of amps in a Who-like stunt, which seemed a half-hearted, lame homage, with some of the members walking off the stage with embarrassed smiles. Otherwise, the performance rocked. If you heard "Whatever People," then you already know that the Arctic Monkeys is the real deal.

Posted by Supercore at 01:33 AM

March 04, 2006

Video: John Cage's 4'33" Performed by Orchestra

Hit the play button in the embedded video player above or view via the YouTube permalink.

Posted by icorsa at 12:43 AM

This is the Dawning of the Age of Dubstep

Welcome newly minted electronic-dance music sub-genres! You've been hearing about "dubstep" for a while, but, c'mon now, can you really kick knowledge on this latest of music styles to emerge from the U.K.? Did you say, "No"? Hmm ... Well, check out this recent Wikipedia entry on dubstep and get up to speed. (Seriously, people -- get with the effing program! Sheesh!)

Posted by typhoon at 12:03 AM

February 27, 2006

Torontopia's Music Collective, Broken Social Scene

There was an in-depth story in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine on the Toronto band Broken Social Scene. The article was not so much a profile in service of the band itself, but rather about how "Torontopia" -- the city's creative scene -- works as sort of a collective community, with bands, artists and labels sharing talents and resources with each other. Broken Social Scene, the most successful artist to emerge from the Toronto indie scene of late, has members who are involved in their own separate music projects or with multiple bands simultaneously and move in and out of the BSS.

Posted by Supercore at 08:28 PM

February 07, 2006

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs Album Reviewed in the New Yorker

The ever-reliable music journalist Sasha Frere-Jones positively reviews "Show Your Bones," the new disc by the Brooklyn-based indie sensation the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in this week's issue of the New Yorker magazine. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and their iconic frontperson Karen O. broke onto the scene with an forceful, original indie-pop album two years ago. The band's 2004 gold-certified-selling album "Fever to Tell" and powerful live shows revealed that the group was as great as the hype had promised. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the real deal. What sealed the deal for us was the song "Art Star," which was released in the body of Yeah Yeah Yeahs music a year or two prior to "Fever to Tell." The song blew us away. We found the track on an obscure Japanese pop CD compilation called "U.S. Pop Life Volume 15," which was produced by a friend of ours who runs a small label called Contact Records. Our friend was on to something. Yeah Yeah Yeahs will have a show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City later this month as part of a concert tour in support of "Show Your Bones," so you'll be able see them in the flesh and see what the talk is really all about.

Essential Links

POSITIVE ATTITUDE: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album [New Yorker]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Website
Bowery Ballroom Website

Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:31 AM

December 14, 2005

Giving It Up for Lady Sovereign, Ruling MC of the U.K. Grime Scene

There's a lot of hype about 19-year-old U.K. rap sensation Lady Sovereign and her new album "Vertically Challenged." There's also a ton of hype about her becoming the first British grime artist to breakthrough in America. We're not convinced that that will happen, in part because of her at times over-the-top Britishness (be it ghetto-London Britishness, at that, even though it sounds awesome), but also because the grime genre itself is mostly too stark for American mainstream tastes.

We'd love to be wrong on this one, and Lady Sovereign stands a better chance than any other big name on the U.K. grime scene of finding success in the U.S. She has the talent and she's got the beats. "Vertically Challenged" (the title is a reference to Lady's height of 5'1") is not as good as some of her previously released singles promised. As a collection, the disc underperforms.

Lady Sovereign offers up her best on "Random" -- by far her best track -- and "Chi-ching " and "Hoodie." "Random" alone could be one of the best singles of the year and it is -- despite tons of expletives -- the most accessible grime record we've heard. It's certainly the tune with the most infectious hooks. Lady Sovereign will warrant comparisons with Missy Elliott. "Random" sounds like what super producer Timbaland (who produces Missy Elliott's best work) would sound like if he moved to South London and became a grime artist.

Where Lady Sovereign really shines is in her flow and MC style. She's got more attitude than she knows what to do with. And her lyrics take hard -- but clever and funny -- swipes at some big names (Nelly, Chingy) in American hip-hop and U.K. grime. Her numerous Adidas references can get under the skin and on the nerves after a while and are practically screaming out for a sponsorship deal from the German sneaker and apparel maker. Despite some soft spots, "Vertically Challenged" gets the nod from our iPod this week.

Essential Linkage
Lady Sovereign Official Website
BBC Homegrown Interview with Lady Sovereign
Profile: Lady Sovereign [Pitchfork Reviews]

Posted by Supercore at 03:35 AM

December 10, 2005

Grammy Nominations Announced: Massive Faves Gorillaz, Dangermouse and Kanye West Get Noms

The Grammy Awards nominations were announced Friday and some of our favorite artists were among the nominees. We were especially happy to see (but, admittedly, entirely surprised) by a Best Producer nomination going to Dangermouse, who produced the global hit "Demon Days" album by Gorillaz. Dangermouse first came to the world's attention with this bootleg and very underground mash-up "The Gray Album," a controversial mix of the Beatles classic "White" album with Jay Z's "Black" album. Recently Dangermouse has been getting press props for his collabo with MF Doom, called, appropriately, "Dangerdoom." The Grammy nomination will just increase Dangermouse's profile further. And if he actually wins, well, he'll be a real star, and we'll happily cheer him. That said, the Grammies, for the most part, are a joke. But with noms going to Danger and Gorillaz, that may be changing. Then again, Mariah Carey also got a nomination, so what can you say?

Essential Links

Danger Mouse Nominated for Producer of The Year [Stereoboard]
Grammy nominees [New York Newsday]
Grammy Showdown: Comeback queen Carey faces West in key races. [London Free Press]

Posted by Robsam at 04:10 AM

November 15, 2005

Midnight with Japanther

If you count yourself among the New York City noise music massive, there is a good chance that you were in the Lower East Side around midnight last Friday for the Japanther show at Tonic. Japanther's performance was among the most transformative club gigs we'd seen in a while. For Japanther fans, it was probably the most transformative since, well ... since the last Japanther show in NYC. As Williamsburg's finest underground electro-noise punk outfit, Japanther recall bits and torrents of Osaka-style noise and sugary indie-rock melody, sewn together by severe, unapologetic punk riffs, catharthic vocal assaults, electronic-effects, fuzz, distortion and speed. Modified hardware is employed, including that Japanther staple of telephone receivers jerryrigged to microphones to create the squawky, distorted gate for all vocals. The Japanther show was a beautiful, untainted moment of noise-punk performance.

Essential Links

Japanther Website
Japanther "Hidden" Web Site
Tonic New York City Web Site

Posted by Supercore at 01:14 AM

November 11, 2005

Music: Dangerdoom - The Mask and the Mouse

When we heard about this collaboration between rapping rhyme lyricist MF Doom and mashup maestro Dangermouse, we were salivating in anticipation -- our ears were drooling, boyo!

So when we finally got our paws on Dangerdoom (The Mask and the Mouse), we were ready for some truly original hip-hop. Something not mainstream, but not backpack either.

Dangerdoom lives up expectations. We've been bopping along to the collabo album to and from work everyday this past week -- its that good. But that's what we expect from these guys.

Dangermouse gained global acclaim for the bootleg Grey Album, a startling and skillful mashup of Jay Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' White album. Since then he's gone on to a series of A-list projects, including the recent new album by the Damon Albarn supergroup Gorillaz, "Demon Days."

Then there's Doom, the legendary, mysterious and fiercely independent Chicago rhymemaster who hides his face and identity with his signature metal mask. Brilliant stuff.

Essential Links

Metacritic Reviews of Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask
Dangerdoom Official Website

Posted by Ray Chan at 01:08 PM

November 09, 2005

Draped Up and Ridin' Slabs with Rapper "Bun B" and the New Hip-Hop Sound of Houston

A year ago, few people outside of Houston, Texas or the senior circles of hip-hop producers and fans had heard of Bun B. Fewer still would have thought of Houston as a source of hip-hop greatness. And those few who did probably wouldn't have expected Bun B and a host of other Houston rappers, such as Mike Jones and Slim Thug, to be riding high on some of the hottest rap recordings of 2005. But for Bun B, this isn't the rise of a new young star, but rather the unexpected comeback of a seasoned, talented rapper who has been lingering off-stage for way too long after a brief encounter with rap success in the early 1990's. Bun B, who back in the day was part of a group called UKG (Underground Kingz), is symbolic of Houston's long-overdue and slow, simmering emergence. An excellent piece by Sasha Frere-Jones in this week's New Yorker magazine explains why Bun B's new album "Trill" and Houston's singular hip-hop style are now leaving their mark on the genre. So, move over, St. Louis. Out of the way, New York City. Houston is takin' over fo' rizzle.

Essential Links

Bun B Online
Taking It Slow: Houston hip-hop takes over [The New Yorker]

Posted by Robsam at 12:56 AM

October 19, 2005

We ♥ Deerhoof! New Disc "The Runners Four" Rules!

We were thrilled last week to see the release of the new Deerhoof album "The Runners Four." True, we've always had a soft spot in our sonic heart for this San francisco-based quartet. But their previous release, this year's EP "Green Cosmos," sealed the deal. Deerhoof are the most stimulating, refreshing, experimental, idiosyncratic, contrarian -- and yet surprisingly accessible! -- indie-rock-pop band on the American music landscape. The group has been around for roughly a decade, so it's great to see them really maturing with creative brilliance, finding their feet and getting their critical due. As soon as we heard "Wrong Time Capsule" on "The Runners Four," we were hooked on the disc. You will be, too.

Essential Links

Deerhoof Web Site

Posted by Supercore at 01:54 AM

October 16, 2005

Attention Wannabe Mash-up DJs: There's a Goldmine of TV Theme Song MP3s!

Check out this index page listing a bunch of MP3s of mostly 1980's TV show theme songs -- everything from Knight Rider to Airwolf is here. We like the Knight Rider theme esepcially. Even though Puff Daddy ... er, P. Diddy ... er, Diddy sampled the theme in one of his mid-nineties mainstream hip-hop mega singles, we still shiver with a frightening degree of nostalgia that defies intellect.

Looking back, it's unbelieveable that Knight Rider -- a show with a concept truly retarded -- could ever have been greenlit by a major network, but there was probably a cadre of TV execs to felt the show's premise and stars (Baywatch's David Hasselhoff and an IA-enhanced sportscar with a HAL-like voice called "KIT") would play well in the fly-over states (though they probably didn't use the phrase "fly-over states" back then).

Essential Links

MP3s of Television Theme Songs
Knight Rider TV Show Theme Music MP3
Knight Rider Online Website

Posted by Robsam at 01:23 PM

October 02, 2005

History of the "Amen" Break Used in Hip-Hop, Drum 'n' Bass

Nate Harrison is an "interdisciplinary artist" in Los Angeles whose projects explore electronic music culture and media. One of his projects from 2004 is called "Can I Get An Amen?" and it explains the fascinating history of one of the most commnly used musical breaks -- looped drum samples taken from other song recordings -- often used by DJs, early hip-hop artists and electronic musicians, notably those creating drum 'n' bass in the 1990's.

In fact, the "Amen" break is virtually a sonic icon, it is arguably the most recognizable beat of the entire drum 'n' bass genre and is largely synonymous with it. The break has found its way into TV commercials and soundtracks, further burrowing into the ground of the pop-culture soundscape. The "Amen" break takes its name from the original song from which it was sampled, a 1969 hit that is now as obscure as its creators, a funk-soul group called The Winstons.

Nate Harrison's history is illuminating. It's as clever an exposition as it is a work of media art in and of itself. (Technically, the artist's media used for this artwork is listed as follows: "recording on acetate, turntable, PA system, paper documents.") The story is told via a turntable playing a vinyl dub-plate recording of the artist speaking (we assume it's the artist who is speaking) and this is in turn videotaped and edited into a QuickTime movie you can view online at Harrison's Web site. Really good stuff, this.

Essential Links

"Can I Get An Amen?" (2004) by Nate Harrison
Nate Harrison Web Site

Posted by at 05:14 PM

September 15, 2005

French Pop 1: The Astonvilla

Astonvilla is a French pop-rock oufit that caught our attention on our recent trip to France. We were stuck in our brother-in-law's home one rainy night and watching music videos on a local French TV channel when we caught Astonvilla's video. While we were entertained by the band's music and the clip, what struck most about the group was its name: Astonvilla.

In fact, the name was more interesting to us -- at first -- than their music or even the intrigueing music videowith its inexplicable tale about a girl who sees her imaginary doppelganger as she walks around an anonymous city.

Astonvilla is French, but named after a popular English professional soccer team called Aston Villa (except that the team is named after an actual place and spells its name as two words, whereas as the Gallic band writes the name as a single word.) Apparently, the band's members are fans of English football.

We imagine that if you're French (or American, like us), the name Aston Villa sounds kind of cool, which, actually, we think it does. We also imagine that it probably does not sound as cool to Brits, unless said Brits are fans of Aston Villa the soccer team, or the French band. At least, for the British, the name conjures a different image.

This is not the first time a band's name has been inspired by a foreign soccer club -- the British band St. Etienne named itself after the French foootie team of the same name. So call it a draw in terms of Anglo-Franco cross-national pop-culture referencing.

Oh, but what about Astonvilla's music, you ask? It's solid, serviceable pop rock, played with an indie 90's flavor and sung in French. It's not quite our cup of tea, musically speaking, but we'd listen to their album on our next cruise down the highway from Paris to Dijon. Check out the band's Web site official site. If you'll be in Paris in a couple of months, you can catch Astonvilla at Elysee-Montmartre on Nov. 29.

Essential Linkage

Le site officiel du groupe Astonvilla

Posted by Robsam at 11:35 PM

August 23, 2005

Obligatory Cat with CD Photo Vol. 2: Cornelius Goes Crazy for Seu Jorge!

OK, it's official. Cornelius the Cat has made his musical selection of the month, and it's ... the new disc "Carolina" by Brazilian muso extraordinaire, Seu Jorge. For those of you unfamiliar with Seu Jorge, you may have unknowingly caught his acting and musical performances in the Wes Andersen film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." Jorge played one of the ship's crew members that sailed with Bill Murray (as Capt. Zissou) in is quest. In the movie, Jorge could often be seen strumming an acoustic guitar and singing David Bowie (as well as his own) songs in Portuguese. "Carolina" reveals Jorge's broader Brazilian folk-pop sensibilties. Its catchy, soothing acoustic tunes won Cornelius's ears and ours, too. The album has been our favorite this summer for when we're lazing under a tree in Central Park and sipping green Tea frapps on hot and muggy NYC days.

Posted by at 12:07 AM

August 19, 2005

Who the F%#& are Diplo and Malboro? The New Yorker has the Answer!

There was another one of those excellent Pop Music stories by Sasha Frere-Jones in a recent New Yorker that's worth a drive-by on the Web. This time, Frere-Jones profiled the DJs Malboro and Diplo, who is largely the musical force behind the sound of British-Sri Lankan pop star M.I.A. and her recent album "Arular." Diplo is adept at assimilating disparate sub-pop musical style hybrids (Brazilian electro inspired by old-school Miami "bass," to name one) and foreign dance club hits (like "Bucky Done Gun," a big club hit by Malboro himself in his Brazilian homeland) and reworking them into a wholly fresh sound. That sound found its perfect compnaion in the singular vocal style and lyricsm of M.I.A. That, kids, was how a "shanty pop" supa' star was born. Now go read that NYer article for the deep and heavy intel. Chop, chop!

Essential Linkage

BRAZILIAN WAX
Two top d.j.s get together [New Yorker]

Diplo Profile at Big Dada

Posted by Supercore at 12:46 AM

July 01, 2005

Obligatory Cat Photo Vol 1.: Wasa with Prefuse 73

We couldn't help it. When we saw our cat Wasa (our unofficial Air Massive mascot) cozying up to the latest Prefuse 73 CD, we grabbed our Nikon digicam and snapped this photo. We're not sure yet if Wasa's shocked expression is due to the presence of the Prefuse 73 disc or at our nerve for disturbing him to take his photo.

In any case, we think the new Prefuse 73 album is boss. The disc is titled "Surrounded by Silence" and is further evidence of Scott Herren's evolutionary sonic genius. That said, his previous effort, "One Word Extinguisher," made more of an immediate impression on us at first listen. "Surrounded" is by far Herren's biggest production and it risks being weighed down by its extensive collaborations with a who's who of indie music superstars.

Essential Linkage

Prefuse 73 - Official "Surrounded by Silence" Website

Posted by Supercore at 01:01 PM

June 28, 2005

Deerhoof Rules! "Green Cosmos" Rocks Our World!

We had been hearing all the murmurs about Deerhoof for a while. In fact, we'd been hearing about them ever since a wintry evening in late 2002 when we headed east from the Lower East Side, across the bridge, to Williamsburg, Brooklyn with the editor of the Japanese music magazine Switch. The editor was here to do special issue about the NYC music scene and to meet some real-life New York "underground" bands like Outhud, The Liars and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The trip to Williamsburg that night was for a photo shoot and interview with the folks who run the underground venue called Mighty Robot. Deerhoof kept popping up in the conversation about American bands. (Deerhoof is not an NYC group, but are based in San Francisco.)

Afterwards, Deerhoof kept appearing on our new-music radar, now and again mentioned by friends who uttered the band's name with beatific reverence. Later, we heard some tracks and were impressed. But, somehow, not completely blown away, that is, until now and the release of the new Deerhoof disc "Green Cosmos."

"Green Cosmos" is brilliant.

And it's one of the absolute freshest and most original discs to come out this year. (With this and M.I.A. "Arular" and the Fiery Furnaces "EP," 2005 is shaping up to be a special year for new music. We can't stop listening to this disc. At the office today, I played the whole album all the way through four times on my iPod -- and I had five meetings and a deadline!)

Tracks like the opener "Come See the Duck" might feel like more familiar territoy for hardcore fans, the track has the same start-stop aggression of your typical one-minute Melt Banana noise-punk assault.

"Spiral Golden Town" is our favorite track. It's a stunning piece of sci-fi pop that evokes epic grandeur with a playful synthetic lilt. Since "Green Cosmos" is almost completely sung Japanese, which is the first language of singer/bass-guitarist (and Tokyo native) Satomi Matsuzaki, it's a bit of a sonic landmark even for Deerhoof itself.

Essential Linkage

Deerhoof Factsheet [KillRockstars Records]

Deerhoof Bio [BlueGhost PR Website]

Posted by Supercore at 03:13 PM

June 03, 2005

A Brief History of Puffy Amiyumi

True story: Three summers ago we received a newly released Puffy Amiyumi CD as a birthday present from some work colleagues who knew that we were music headz and that we had had spent some time living in Japan and doing a short music journalism stint.

We were, of course, already familiar with Puffy (as Puffy Amiyumi are known in Japan) as a J-pop force. We even knew some of their hit songs from Japanese radio airplay, countless karaoke sessions with Japanese friends and television, on which they appeared regularly throughout the late 1990's. We even liked a couple of their tunes, even though their music was brazenly derivative (but derivative of some of the very best pop, disco and rock music that had ever been recorded up till that time).

But "fans" we were not.

The CD was called "An Illustrated History of Puffy Amiyumi" and as the duo's first official US album debut, it was largely a compilation of their greatest hits and then some. A couple of tunes, we recall, which had been originally sung in Japanese, contained new vocal tracks with whole verses sung completely in English, a nod that would appeal to what would hopefully be a new found American audience. That audience, not surprisingly, was a niche market of Japanophiles and the kind of "otaku" teens and twenty-somethings that tended to also be huge manga comic book and Japanese anime fans, the same "kidz" that could be found at annual anime conventions in major cities nationwide.

New Jersey-based indie label Bar-None released "An Illustrated History" and, in hindsight, perhaps the record company really was on to something big in light of the success of the Hi, Hi Puffy Amiyumi animated series on Cartoon Network. Shortly after Bar-None released "Illustrated," Puffy Amiyumi were asked to provide the theme song to another Cartoon Network animated program called Tenn Titans, which itself became a hit. Between Teen Titans and the present, Hi, Hi Puffy Amiyumi was conceived and brought to life as the Adult Swim hit it has become.

Reading about Puffy Amiyumi in Jonathan Durbin's Paper magazine article recently led us to pop "An Illustrated Histry" onto our iPod and revisit the album. "Illustrated" is much as we remembered it -- a few gems amid lots of filler, some of it pure, unblinking kitsch. The parts sung in English make us cringe. But the gem -- mostly the bigger its, including their breakout single "Asia No Junshin" -- are solid well-crafted pop tunes written by a professional songwriter-producer of several of the band's best albums.

Check out the CD if your a true fan or if your musically curious or culturally adventurous. And check out the "Brief History of Puffy Amiyumi" profile on the Bar-None records website. There's a link to the profile after the "More" jump below.

Related Links

A Brief History of Puffy Amiyumi [Bar-None Records]

Hi, Hi Puffy Amiyumi [Paper Mag]

Official Puffy Amiyumi Website

Hi, Hi Puffy Amiyumi Video Clip [Cartoon Network]

Cartoon Network Website

Posted by Supercore at 12:14 AM

March 23, 2005

Paris's DJ Cam Comes Correct on Liquid Hip-Hop

We've been listening to the new DJ Cam album "Liquid Hip Hop" a lot since we first took it for a spin over a month ago. We were in LA for a few days on a half-business, half-pleasure trip and had bulked up with a few CDs -- remember those? -- at the HEAR Store in Santa Monica so that we'd have some new music to play in the rental car. As soon we got back to New York City, we ripped the disc and put on our iPods and in out iTunes. Since then we've been playing DJ Cam's "Liquid Hip Hop" daily as we spend our days and nights running around Manhattan or tethered to our workstations.

Laurent Daumail is the real name behind the DJ Cam moniker. He's based in Paris and since the mid-1990's Cam has been turning out chilled-out abstract hip hop from what may what once have seemed the unlikeliest hip hop city. "Liquid Hip Hop" is mostly a collection of downtempo tunes with a sophisticated, cool twist that relies on funk and jazz samples and upbeat ol' school-meets-new school flavored beats that will keep your head bobbing side to side, to and fro, up and down for nearly forty minutes.

Like works by other abstract hip hop artists, such as DJ Shadow and DJ Krush, "Liquid Hip Hop" is mostly instrumental but has a couple of rap tracks on it, including a solid, respectable MCing appearance from Guru on the excellent "Espionage" remix. Cameo and J Dilla weigh in with rhymes on "Love Junkee."

But DJ Cam is the real star. His delicate art of the mix and encyclopedic hip hop aesthetic make "Liquid Hip Hop" one of our most played and beloved discs in months, if not years. DJ Cam, wherever you are, "Felicitation" and respect! "Liquid Hip Hop" is another beautiful piece of hip hop artistry.

RELATED LINKS

DJ Cam Biography [Radio France International]

DJ Cam Discography [Radio France International]

DJ Cam Biography at Yahoo! Music

Posted by Robsam at 10:17 PM

March 19, 2005

Supa'star Rapper Lil Kim Gets Slapped with a Rap

Poor Lil Kim! Looks like she's actually going to go down the hard way after being found guilty for lying to the law. Like Martha Stewart, the jury convicted Kim for not being completely truthful during a crime investigation into an incident four years ago in which members of the rapper's entourage were embroiled in a sudden gunfight with rival hip-hop artists Capone and Noreaga outside the Manhattan studios of the Hot 97 FM radio station. Shortly after the guilty verdict, Lil Kim issued a statement to her fans and posted the following "Message From Lil Kim to her Fans" on her official website:

"I have confidence in our legal system and look forward to justice in my case. I would like to thank my amazing and loving fans for the overwhelming number of letters, e-mails, phone calls and expressions of support. It is very much appreciated, welcoming and gratifying during my time in need."

The convictions are officially on conspiracy and perjury counts for lying to a federal grand jury and could land Lil Kim in the big house for up to 20 years. The hip-hop diva, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, would likely face a much, much shorter sentence. Jail time would be personally devastating for Lil Kim, as it would be for anybody, but it could do wonders for her career, though he hip-hop superstar status has shown no signs of flagging. Still, her prison story could open up new opportunities for her as it has for the recently released domestic diva and homemaking-mogul Martha Stewart.

Kim, who stands at a petite 4 ft. 11 inches, could, of course, appeal the conviction, but if the sentence is short enough -- say only five months or so, which is what Martha Stewart served -- she may find it better to just get the jail time over with and voluntarily serve time before she appeals the case.

In any event, a reality show or serious documentary about Lil Kim and her life in jail would be fascinating, as would the way she might incorporate such an expereince in her future lyrical/musical output.

Full links to related website after the jump below.

Related Links

Lil Kim Official Website

Lil Kim Zone fansite

Jury: Lil Kim Told a Big Lie [Newsday]

Lil Kim to Take the Rap for Perjury [The Guardian, UK]

The Lyin' Kim [New York Post ]

Posted by Robsam at 07:37 PM

February 05, 2005

Notes from a World Tour: The Beastie Boys Go Down Under!

The Beastie Boys' concert series has been passing through its Australia leg this past week, following on a quickie tour of Japan. The journey Down Under included stops at the massive annual summer outdoor music festival, the Big Day Out (remember, kids, Australia is in the southern hemisphere). The Beasties have been