Well, you’re going to be super-stoked because not only is INXS putting out a new record, it’s also kinda/sorta simultaneously putting out an old record but with new singers on old songs. Sound awesome? Or more like a desperate attempt to drum up some business, using the cheapest, most shameless means possible? Well, it gets [...]

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With MTV’s removal of the words “Music Television” from its iconic logo, the reality network finally admits, however passively, that music is in no way a driving force behind its existence anymore. This is news to absolutely no one, much less to the train-wreck-craving rubberneckers who seem glued to watching Guidos confirm that America is [...]

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It’s not news to hear that Courtney Love is an embarrassing trainwreck, but this Hole reunion is scraping the resin off the bottom of the barrel. First of all, no one cares. No one liked Hole to begin with. The only reason anyone paid any attention to the band’s second album, Live Through This, was [...]

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There was such a wide range of quality music made in the noughties that it is hard for critics to agree on which albums had the most impact

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Natalie Portman popped headphones onto Zach Braff’s head and said flatly, “This song will change your life.” The resulting sound was not only that of carefully composed dullness (thank you, Shins), but of a million wealthy white kids investing in dull acoustic music to soundtrack their own romantic melodrama.
Bored New World: How the Zach Braff [...]

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If the Blur vs. Oasis war were ongoing and measured in stature, I dare say, Damon Albarn would have cleaned the Gallagher brothers’ collective clocks by now. Of course, both Noel and Liam would dismiss Albarn’s post-Blur accomplishments with some sort of drunken slur implying that Albarn’s a fey lightweight. Thankfully, Albarn has long since [...]

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“ATP isn’t just a model for music festivals—it’s a business model for everybody in the arts. Keep your costs low, spend on what counts, keep major corporations out of it, treat everybody decently, and have the confidence and patience to let these strategies work.” – SFJ

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Wow. This is so bad I don’t even know what to say. Everett True does, though. And he did rather succinctly. Courtney Love did not take kindly to his further disgust on Twitter. Gold and hilarity both ensue.
Oh, and I just got an email from Nasty Little Man owner, Steve Martin:
“Activision is responding to [...]

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John Lydon, as simultaneously annoying and entertaining as he can be, is not one to play by the rules. The fact that he has flogged the dead horse that is the Sex Pistols’ legacy for cheap, cash-cow reunions on numerous occasions is unsurprising to anyone who has even tangentially followed his career path. The Sex [...]

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If you’re marrying a girl with a seemingly limitless dowry, then you just might be able to afford one of the following performers for your reception. The prices are as big as the names, give or take. I remember my friend wanted to get The Magnetic Fields when he and his wife got married almost [...]

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I’m not sure how I missed this news, but legendary Pogues singer Shane MacGowan got himself a new grill. It just seems wrong somehow. Half the man’s appeal was his teetering on the brink of drinking himself to death, slurring his lyrics, and making the rest of humanity feel a lot better about themselves. Nothing [...]

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As with any reunion, The Verve’s motives had to be viewed with a few extra grains of salt. This is a band that has notoriously imploded multiple times. So, anyone who didn’t see the dollar signs flashing behind them when they reformed in 2007 just didn’t want to. With news that The Verve has once [...]

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My Bloody Valentine is going to pass out free earplugs to fans during its upcoming European tour. This idea is about two decades too late for many who have already witnessed the eardrum shattering noise this band emits live. Several friends of mine who have had the good/bad fortune of seeing My Bloody Valentine in [...]

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The Guardian’s John Robb questions whether punk legends Crass – or a band with similarly extreme ideals – could exist in today’s musical and social climate. Are kids today too cynical to buy into such ideals? Was Crass’ success outside the mainstream merely a product of extraordinary times? The band played its last show 25 [...]

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So, apparently Jens got the swine. I fully expect some amazing songs to come out of this experience.

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Sound as Language has an interesting 2 part series on the changes afoot at Emusic now that they have added the Sony catalog to their offerings. Worth a read.

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Has it really already been 20 years of blur. Absolutely gutted I will miss them this summer. The compilation of moments and comments from the Guardian is a great trip down memory lane for Blurophiles. I remember (like it was yesterday!) buying the CD Single at Tower Records because I heard “There’s [...]

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Bell and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch sort of matter of factly belies the notion that being in a pop band is in any way glamorous in his behind the scenes introduction to his current band God Help the Girl for The Guardian. Murdoch doesn’t exactly define what he means by “glamor”, though he does explain what [...]

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Steven Patrick Morrissey turns 50 today. Sort of hard to believe. Well, The Guardian has been wondering what to get the old coot. Hearing aids and bicycle puncture repair kits aside, the funniest suggestion is clearly: Johnny Marr’s mobile number. Though, a key to his closet is a close second. Some of the comments are [...]

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Haha. If you wondered whether the reunited Jane’s Addiction was living on the edge, think again. Teleprompters all around. Nothing says “rock ‘n’ roll” quite like reading your lyrics off a screen. Karaoke style. [via The Daily Swarm]

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