90s Jams #42: Wu-Tang Clan "Triumph" (1997)

Nine killer verses and no chorus. Fuck pop. This is the way pure hiphop is done. Between "Hypnotize" and "Triumph," 1997 turned into a huge year for the first singles off incredible 2nd albums.. The enormity of RZA's beat sounds like Wu-Tang kicking off their end-of-the-world concert with the heavens opening up behind them. There's at least 40 classic lines in this song. Can you spot them all?

90's Jams #43: Depeche Mode "Personal Jesus" (1990)

Okay, so at some point there has to be some cheating involved... Violator was Spring '90, but the "Personal Jesus" single was actually Fall '89... We could have been cool about it and just said we like the album version better, but that's actually not true because the version on Violator stretches the outro a bit too long, and it doesn't have that final chilling unresolved "Reach out and touch faith..." followed by the haunting guitar-ping. And speaking of guitars, this was their first song ever with any guitar at all, let alone a guitar riff, and of course it ends up turning out to be one of the coolest riffs ever... And speaking of cool, what the fuck ever happened to cool rock bands? Are any current bands pulling it off as well as these guys once did? The always-growing number of artists who've honored "Personal Jesus" is almost as impressive as their variety, ranging from Marilyn Manson's "Rock Is Dead" right on up through Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl."

Dead Wives "Scuz Bucket"

Dead Wives
"Scuz Bucket" (EP)
2011

1. Dead Wives - Crash Landing (2:08)
2. Dead Wives - Don't Stop Bleeding (3:31)
3. Dead Wives - VHS (2:51)
4. Dead Wives - Wilt (2:10)

Dead Wives' first ever "official" non-demo-tape release is finally finished and is currently streaming on Soundcloud. The songs are all re-recordings of older songs.. "Crash Landing" and "Wilt" (previously titled "Mild," "Melt," and "untitled") are originally from 2007's "Milk & Water" tape. "VHS" (previously titled "Move In") was originally found on 2009's "Hellrazor" tape, and "Don't Stop Bleeding" was first heard on last summer's "Demon Priest" demo. It was recorded between November and December 2010 by Mike Henss at Enox Productions in Newtown, CT.

Download it here or stream it from Soundcloud....

Scuz Bucket (EP) by deadwives

"Buckingham Green"

It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the drummer is either a bear or a monkey...

90's Jams #44: Beastie Boys "Sabotage" (1994)

Hardcore never had much of a chance of mainstream success, but if anyone had a shot with this, it had to be Beastie Boys. Combining their punk roots with record scratching and a slowed-down version of Motörhead's bass & screaming combination (and the cool false ending), "Sabotage" brought all of their best elements together once and for all... This shit gets you pumped. Possibly without peer as the most massive rap-rock single that's ever existed.

While the video takes most of the credit for its success, the song's energy was more than enough to create one of the best VMA's performances... Later in the same show, Adam Yauch dressed as Nathanial Hornblower, rushed to the podium just as Michael Stipe was about to accept an award for "Everybody Hurts," expressing anger for a few seconds before being escorted away by security, a decently spontaneous and youthful moment from a guy who rapped about having gray hairs on the follow-up single "Sure Shot."

TOP STORY ON P4K BITCHEZ!

Music has somehow gotten exciting again... what the fuck is going on? After a huge long period of bumouts, nothing seems to have made us happier than seeing that dumbass Ryan Shreiber (sp) choosing Tyler and Hodgy Beats insane TV performance as Pitchfork's top story of the day... Hopefully Radiohead don't announce any other albums, or like.. Ringo doesn't die or anything.. Tyler needs the PR.

sub pop roster march 18th 1989

Burzum launches a clothing line

http://www.metalsucks.net/2011/02/08/exclusive-burzum-launches-clothing-line/

I probably should spell this out so you can fully understand what's happening here... Burzum is fronted by the one guy from Mayhem who isn't dead yet.. The other three members either ate each other or were murdered by the Burzum guy, who is possibly still in jail, and still releasing music.. Burzum were also on the Gummo soundtrack.

So yeah, anyway I guess now he wants to be the next Jay-Z... some hot new items just announced...

Tyler just got signed

Tyler The Creator just got signed for a 1-album deal with XL records.. the new album Goblin won't be available for free like the other Odd Future albums, but at some point you gotta pay the bills.. And according to Tyler this will not be compromising any kind of artistic cred or anything. Yeah we'll see...

In the meantime, Odd Future plays Santos Party House tomorrow night, and on Wednesday night set your DVR's for this... It promises to be fucking unreal...

Saturday

http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/

Arcade Fire Wins (lmao) get it cos the guy's name is win

About 25 minutes ago, Arcade Fire unexpectedly won the "Album of the year" Grammy award only minutes after playing the only actually exciting performance that's been on the Grammies in several years.. musically speaking..

Two years ago, Radiohead played "15 Step" with a marching band which was kinda cool, and when M.I.A. sang with Jay-Z and was all 9-months preggers, it was def interesting, but the excitement was more based around theater aspects or context based around reality.. The excitement wasn't conveyed quite as much by the music itself.. which The Arcade Fire completely achieved.

For whatever reason they decided to play "Month Of May" with a bunch of kids on dirtbikes speeding around the stage, ala the intro of the video for "The Suburbs," and whoever was in charge of the lighting had just smoked a big bag of crack only minutes earlier, so it was actually kind of exciting.. I only saw the last 15 minutes of the awards, and I feel as though it was the only part I needed to see.

Hipster Runoff already posted their tribute:

http://hipsterrunoff.com/2011/02/we-did-it.html

The whole thing almost makes up for Steely Dan taking Album Of The Year over Kid A and The Marshall Mathers LP... Almost...

Edit: Neon Bible is currently trending on twitter because "the fans" (lol) think it's better than The Suburbs which is actually untrue since Neon Bible is thoroughly boring as shit while The Suburbs is about half awesome and half boring.

"Yonkers"

And the winner for the best song that leaked today is:



Edit: #YONKERS was actually trending on Twitter earlier today, and this videos only been out for 19 hours!! WTG Tyler!

well, it's finally here kids! The NEW Lady Gaga!!

She does not disappoint

90s Jams #45: Dr. Octagon "Blue Flowers" (1996)

Nothing else that's ever happened in the great big world of music has ever combined brilliant hiphop with such bizarre otherworldliness as Dr. Octagon. Try Beans, Biz Markie, ODB, MF Doom, various other Kool Keith projects, or maybe even some newer stuff from Odd Future.. But searching will do you no good. Keith has put out some wacky shit, but it just ends up sounding like trying to recreate that first amazing pot binge.. It's never as good as the first time. Dan The Automator and QBert have put out decent shit as well, but Dr. Octagonecologyst is still their masterwork. Its legend has only grown as the years pass, quickly getting discovered by more and more kids. Years from now, its cult status may reach otherworldly proportions. The Dali of hiphop?

Mid-way through the acid trip, we find "Blue Flowers," our moment of clarity. Concise (single length) with two classic Keith verses and QBert's inventive scratching (not as common at the time), it turns out to be the centerpiece of one of the rare hiphop releases where every song and skit is amazing. Back in the 60's when bands like Small Faces, The Moody Blues and Zappa were all about "blowing people's minds" with their "concept albums," Dr. Octagonecologyst is really what they should have been shooting for. And also at least once per verse, Keith throws in something that's just straight up fuckin LMAO.. "Your insurance is high but my price is cheap!"

"Connection"

This is possibly the only case where they were able to fit the entire song under B&B's commentary without editing anything out (besides the cool trippy intro I guess...)

we are so gay for "Born This Way"

I hope this doesn't jinx anything but musically speaking, 2011 has gotten off to a pretty rad start.. The new Ringo Deathstarr was leaked yesterday and although we haven't heard it yet, hopes are up...

And tomorrow (technically today.. it's past midnight here..) is "Born This Way" Friday, when Lady Gaga will be unleashing her new song.. which is kind of a huge deal. We're counting on you Gaga. Do NOT fuck this up.

MJ accepts award for Nirvana

At some point I'd like to try compiling the entire '92 VMA's from Youtube as a tribute type thing.. remembering the greatest night in MTV's existence.. It was also the night this happened:

90's Jams #91: Pete Rock & CL Smooth "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" (1992)

NBA Street Vol. 2 for XBox kinda played this song to death, but for a good reason... "T.R.O.Y." somehow just evokes images of intense summertime basketball, like a deleted scene from some early 90's Spike Lee joint. The built-in nostalgia from the intro sample also helped turn this into one of the truest summer bangers. CL Smooth animated an otherwise badass family tribute with his lyrics, but the real magic of "T.R.O.Y." lies within Pete Rock's production. In its wikipedia entry, Pete Rock is cited from an article where he said he was touched by "such a beautiful bassline" which became the sample, and the drums are as close to jazz as one could ask for, since the snare placement in each measure pretty much never repeats itself.

"Dead Presidents" & "Ain't No *****"

From the show "Teen Summit" on BET. Probably his 2 best 90's jams.

Sooooo weird watching this now and thinking there was ever a time when Jay-Z wasn't yet considered among the greatest MC's ever, and also weird watching him perform with only fairly reasonable amounts of confidence, as opposed to his current status...

90's Jams #92: Radiohead "Black Star" (1995)

Debate is really not an issue regarding the greatest three-album-run of the past 20 years (the type that would give Rubber Soul/Revolver/Sgt Pepper a run for the money), without question belonging to The Bends, OK Computer and Kid A, with each sparking a different era of Britpop. A whole lot of shitty bands arrived in the aftermath of these 3 records, but the same can be said for every influential artist... Even bands as cool as The Velvet Underground or Joy Division eventually ended up influencing shit like Razorlight and Kaiser Chiefs.

So if you completely ignore Travis and Keane and James Blunt's "You're Beautiful," and instead focus on the first two Coldplay albums and "Bittersweet Symphony" and Beck's Sea Change and Arcade Fire's "We Used To Wait," its importance makes more sense... although most of these influences tend to focus on the softer side of The Bends, with less of the cathartic attack heard in "The Bends," "Just," or "My Iron Lung," which was heard more in the first few albums from Muse.

Excellently sequenced in the middle of side 2, "Black Star" splits the difference between soft and cathartic more than the rest of the album. People who really love The Bends might be aware that half of this record contains songs with the same 4 chords, and "Black Star" exploited these 4 chords to the extremes of melodrama. Emo was always best when it rocked, and this song was arguably Radiohead at their most quintessentially emo... Along with "Fake Plastic Trees," it was probably the song that caused fans to start worrying about whether Thom Yorke would be alive to record another follow-up. When is this dude gonna finally cheer the fuck up already? (He did in 2007, but it took a while...)

"Tomorrow Never Knows"

90's Jams #93: Mobb Deep "Shook Ones Part 2" (1995)

Axl, Eminem, Marilyn Manson... They're all hardly badass compared to the toughness of the lyrics from "Shook Ones Part 2." You'd hardly know it by looking at dudes like Prodigy and Havoc, clearly a pair of storytellers fully aware of the strength of street knowledge:

I can see it inside your face
you're in the wrong place
cowards like you just get they're whole body laced up
with bullet holes and such
speak the wrong words man and you will get touched
you can put your whole army against my team and
I guarantee you it'll be your very last time breathin'

Pretty scary shit... You'd figure they look like these 2 dudes:


But comparatively, they kinda have this teddybear quality to them:


Without the image, you'd never know they weren't the creepiest thugs ever. The fakes and the posers can step aside when this one starts up... The realness influenced about 100 samples, most notably appearing constantly on K-Rock in "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" and also after a shout out in "This Is Why I'm Hot."

P.S. Dope hi-hat.

Beavis & Butthead Reunion Tour

I'm kinda freaking out over the endless possibilities regarding the pending return of Beavis & Butthead scheduled for this summer... NME has announced 2 major announcements...

#1 Their world will remain unchanged, which is what we were hoping for, as opposed to having them attempt to fit into a world with internet and text messaging... This just wouldn't make any sense...

#2 It's also been announced that they will stick to watching "current" music videos. This is obviously unconfirmed info, but keep in mind, the original run of 1993-1997 included commentary on videos from MTV's entire catalog, and not confined to what was considered "current." In fact, within the first 5 episodes, they were already watching "Rock You Like A Hurricane" and old Dead Milkmen clips.

Earlier today, facebook's "Beavis And Butthead" fan page asked "what videos should they make fun of?" and of course Justin Bieber was listed within every other comment... The entire list of comments is pretty pathetic, and I wouldn't recommend trying to locate it. Here's hoping MTV and Mike Judge allow a little more comedic freedom by exposing B&B to mostly videos they missed between 1997 and the present... (Videos such as "Tubthumping" and "Are You Jimmy Ray" just feel like the type of stuff they should have been commenting on, but never did...) Nickelback and Lady Gaga would be far too obvious... And in the original 93-97 episodes, most of the time they were watching stuff that was mostly never seen anywhere else anyway... Personally I'd like to see them laughing at stuff like BrokeNCyde and Millionaires... And I'd love to see their reaction to something like No Age's "Eraser" or Care Bears On Fire or something... The less obvious the better. The day Beavis calls Bieber a fartknocker is the day the terrorists have won.

90s Jams #94: Smashing Pumpkins "Disarm" (1993)

In one part of the "Disarm" video, a leg sticks out of someone's hand. However, Youtube will not allow this amazing video to be embedded here. If there is a 2nd most quintessential "Disarm" image, it has to be the one from The Wackness, whose soundtrack is almost entirely early-90's hiphop, with a few exceptions. "Lithium" was considering for one scene but wasn't allowed. Luckily the director was able to get the rights to "Disarm," used in a sequence when the teenage protagonist is alone and bummin' over a chick, a hugely universal moment... Not quite as universal as specifically bumming out to Smashing Pumpkins, but closer than most of us would like to admit.

I WANNA FUCKING SKATE

I get the feeling this video was shot about 2 hours ago.

90s Jams #95: Neutral Milk Hotel "Holland, 1945" (1998)

Returning back into "90's Jams" mode... We're starting the second half with 5 jams placing higher than 90, all of which could have placed higher, but we figured the inclusion of the songs is more important than placements when it gets past the top 50.

The intro count-off of "1945" kicks right into a shotgun blast of playful, distorted acoustic guitar, which almost makes it seem like happy travelling music. And just when we're about ready to break out the air guitar, the lyrics remind us of this album's retardedly immense weight. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (a.k.a. the psych-folk version of Shindler's List) doesn't exactly "lighten up" as much as it warps itself into different heavy shapes, like "The Diary Of Anne Frank" through an LSD lens that makes it look closer to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Somewhere around "The Earth looks better from a star," the reincarnation theme starts to make the whole experience a little too mindblowing. Production-wise, musically and (arguably) lyrically, the Elephant 6 catalog comes to a point with its most perfect moment.

90s Jams revision

Okay, so there were some additional jams kinda re-discovered that were declared ineligible for exclusion from the "90s Jams" list, and so we're gonna end up going past #90 prior to starting up again at #45... This probably does not make any sense, but by the time it's finished, about 100 songs will make up the big list. It will make more sense once it's finished... As for now, here are the 90's jams that have already been posted...

(+3) Pinback "Loro" (1999)
(+3) LL Cool J "Around The Way Girl" (1990)
(+3) The Chemical Brothers "Let Forever Be" (1999)
(bonus) Jay-Z feat. Foxy Brown "Ain't No Nigga" (1996)
(bonus) Hum "If You Are To Bloom" (1998)

#90 No Doubt "New" (1999)
#89 Depeche Mode "I Feel You" (1992)
#88 Local H "Bound For The Floor" (1996)
#87 Cat Power "Cross Bones Style" (1998)
#86 The Cardigans "Erase/Rewind" (1999)
#85 The Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun" (1996)
#84 Teenage Fanclub "Alcoholiday" (1991)
#83 My Bloody Valentine "Loomer" (1991)
#82 Add N To (X) "Metal Fingers In My Body" (1999)
#81 The Notorious B.I.G. "Everyday Struggle" (1994)

#80 Dinosaur Jr "The Wagon" (1990)
#79 The Posies "Dream All Day" (1993)
#78 Blur "Sing" (1991)
#77 Beck "Asshole" (1994)
#76 Superchunk "Slack Motherfucker" (1990)
#75 The Jesus Lizard "Puss" (1992)
#74 Green Day "When I Come Around" (1994)
#73 Fiona Apple "Criminal" (1996)
#72 The Breeders "Divine Hammer" (1993)
#71 Underworld "Dirty Epic" (1993)

#70 Modest Mouse "Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive/Negative)" (1996)
#69 The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy & Ma$e "Mo Money Mo Problems" (1997)
#68 Elliott Smith "Angeles" (1996)
#67 Fiona Apple "On The Bound" (1999)
#66 The Verve "Bittersweet Symphony" (1997)
#65 Yo La Tengo "Sugarcube" (1997)
#64 Green Day "J.A.R." (1995)
#63 Portishead "Sour Times" (1994)
#62 Beck "Diamond Bollocks" (1998)
#61 Screaming Trees "Nearly Lost You" (1992)

#60 My Bloody Valentine "Only Shallow" (1991)
#59 Smashing Pumpkins "Cupid De Locke" (1995)
#58 Pearl Jam "State Of Love And Trust" (1992)
#57 A Tribe Called Quest "Bonita Applebum" (1990)
#56 Janet Jackson "That's The Way Love Goes" (1993)
#55 The Notorious B.I.G. "Juicy" (1994)
#54 Nirvana "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" (1993)
#53 The Cure "End" (1992)
#52 Jimmy Eat World "Lucky Denver Mint" (1999)
#51 Pixies "Velouria" (1990)

#50 Weezer "El Scorcho" (1996)
#49 Gin Blossoms "Hey Jealousy" (1992)
#48 Wu-Tang Clan "C.R.E.A.M." (1993)
#47 Blur "Coffee + TV" (1999)
#46 Jawbox "Savory" (1994)

Wooww... preettyyyy....

Random Garfield Generator

Holy shit...

http://www.dougshaw.com/garfield.html

The odds are in favor of receiving panels that aren't very funny, but these were found posted by some other people...