Jack Johnson
The Jack Johnson who sang the “Curious George” soundtrack, the Jack Johnson who was a professional surfer before picking up the guitar to great success, the Jack Johnson who recorded “Brushfire Fairytales” is NOT the same Jack Johnson who was the first African-American to be a world heavyweight champion boxer. I looked like a complete idiot at Trivia Night this weekend at Shooter’s Bar & Grilll, a complete idiot! So, yeah, I guess this guitar playing guy isn’t black either.
RJD2 Q & A: Ask RJD2 anything you want on the XL website. We asked him which of his collaborators takes the hugest d’s.
Merge Records reports today that Superchunk is back with a brand new 7″ single recorded for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters! The B-side is a version of “Misfits and Mistakes” sung by Meatwad. (This is actually not a joke.)
News sites such as billboard.com, rollingstone.com, and dozens of others are freaking out because of the usage of bagpipes on the White Stripes’ upcoming album, Icky Thump (due out mid-June). It’s just an air supply and a bag, dudes.
New albums out today: The Fall – Reformation Post (US release, already out in the UK), Grant Lee Philips – Strangelet and Laura Veirs – Saltbreakers.
Dumb Luck is Jimmy Tamborello’s (the other Postal Service guy, Figurine) first album on Sub Pop to be released on April 24th under the name Dntel. Vocal contributions include Jenny Lewis, Edward Droste (Grizzly Bear), Andrew Broder (Fog), Conor Oberst and others. Check out the title track called Dumb Luck an epic track layered with samples and alluring vocals.
Fields of Poland
It’s hard to keep track of “fields” these days with band names such as, The Field, Fields, Field Mob, The Field Mice, Field Day, Fielding, The Magnetic Fields, and Horsey Fields of Love. London-based 5-piece Fields are brewin’ up some noisy guitars that may make you think of My Bloody Valentine. Here’s an mp3 called If You Fail, We All Fail.
Exciting Sasquatch 07 additions: Michael Showalter and Aziz Ansari hosting the Wookie and Yeti stages. Also added: Polyphonic Spree, Blitzen Trapper, Stars of Track and Field, Mix Master Mike, Earl Greyhound, The Blakes, and Clinic.
Pitchfork reports that Spoon will release a new, album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, July 10th. Despite being one of the whitest men alive, Brit adds the song, “Black Like Me” to the tracklist.
Kings of Leon will appear as the musical guest on Letterman tonight.
Whoa Here it comes, that funny feelin’ again when the Van Halen tour gets postponed indefinitely. Also, it is worth noting that the site Van Halen News continuously updates VH news from thousands of sources all the time.
Thanks to the fine peeps at Nonesuch records, stream the new Wilco album, Sky Blue Sky to be released on the ides of May.
Jay Reatard: Great band name, mediocre band. Regardless, here they are live in Austin.
Chromeo is Montreal BFF’s Pee Thug and Dave 1. Fancy Footwork sounds like 80’s night mixed with LCD & Basement Jaxx and is probably being played at gay clubs all around the universe.
Rating: 7.5
Lou Reed has always received the most credit for what is widely known as the incredible legacy of the Velvet Underground. The name John Cale, although it does conjure up an instant association with the aforementioned group, usually draws a blank with most people concerning his solo output from 1968 until the present. This is hugely due to the overwhelming lack of hit material that he has produced. However, those who have seen him as a vital presence as being at least equally important as Lou Reed in defining the Velvet Underground’s place in music history, have discovered that Cale’s solo career has consistently outshined Reed’s by leaps and bounds. To be succinct, his records contain a fine balance between pop, classical, and avant-garde music. His albums, for the most part, are both intelligent and challenging where Lou Reed’s often suffer from a prevalent tendency towards average good time rock and roll. When considering this point, it is obvious why the first two Velvet Underground records are so different from the third and fourth. The fact of the matter is that John Cale is an astonishingly original multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. The new double CD collection Circus Live was recorded mostly during the tour that followed 2005’s excellent BlackAcetate.