i am back from being dead, sort of. lots of updates to fill you dudez+babes in on. here are some:

• weezer’s red album is pretty rad/good/amazing/average, all at once. “pork and beans” is one of the greatest songs cuomo has ever written, not to mention the video is possibly the greatest thing EVER MADE EVER (below).

other highlights are “heart songs”, with absolutely brilliant lyrics; including this gem:

and also, the completely insane “the greatest man that ever lived”. overall this record is leaps and bounds above the subpar make believe

• the dandy warhols’ new record, earth to the dandy warhols is also pretty damned good. i’ll admit i wasn’t digging it much at first, but after leaving it on repeat all night it grew on me just as much as their others. “now you love me” is a stunning fuzzed-out lovefest on par with “good morning”, “heavenly”, etc.

• ratatat - lp3 is pretty good, albeit, somewhat more chill than their first two albums. the opening trifecta of “shiller”, “falcon jab” and “mi viejo” are particular good. “gipsy threat” is just weird and creepy as hell.

• mates of state’s latest, re-arrange us, is pretty happy-go-lucky, as we’ve come to expect from such a lovestricken husband-and-wife duo. but that’s, of course, a good thing when it comes to mates of state. still, i can’t say i liked this as much as their more recent efforts, especially the epic bring it back.

• a few albums that i missed last year: the first, (i had no idea that) meredith bragg & the terminals realeased a new album in 2007. which they did, titled silver sonya, and which also, is amazing — even greater than their debut. HIGHLY recommend this record, which would have easily been in my top 15 or so of ‘07. another which i keep meaning to write about, that i learned about from good old sebastian, is junius, who play a brand of post-hardcore similar to the more melodic aspects of deftones or the more fuzz-drenched passages of maserati or cave in. their jawdropping self-titled debut was far and away one of the better records of 2007. “hiding knives” is just unreal.

• also thanks to sebastian’s writeups, i have recently been revisiting wire’s seminal work. i have been particularly enjoying 1979’s 154 and ’78’s chairs missing. though admittedly it takes a bit of work to fully begin appreciating them, i’m still not quite sure what took me so long to be able to love these albums.

• the hold steady has a new album (stay positive), but as someone who has never really enjoyed the band that much (save for the unquestionably amazing “how a resurrection really feels”, from 2005’s separation sunday), i won’t write too much about it. i’ve given it a couple of listens, and can’t say i dislike it, but as per usual, nothing sticks out either.

• finally, dead meadow released their new record some 5 months ago now, and i keep meaning to post a review of it, but my laziness has fucked you again, dear reader. nevertheless, in my opinion, it’s their best to date, which may mean that it’s your least favorite (if you’re a legit dead meadow fan). because the same things that make me like it most (it’s more structured, more pop-oriented, more accessible), are probably the things that are turning longtime fans away. the first half of the album is particularly impressive. “down here” is brilliant.

• ariel pink’s haunted graffiti - underground
the latest opus of lo-fi insanity from cult hero ariel pink is another strange, hallucinatory journey through a collage of twisting melodies, noisy interims and brilliant songwriting that combine together to form a surprisingly coherent, cohesive whole on par with the year’s best records.

• jackie-o motherfucker - valley of fire
psych-travelling, avant garde collective’s newest is a delicate, dreamy foray into the subversive underworld of free-jazz, meditative folk and extreme creep-outs — an intangible mess or intricate beauty and subdued weirdness.

• parts & labor - mapmaker
third proper full-length from new york insaniacs is a mountainous wall-of-sound that seamlessly melds delicious melodies with abrasive noise and tumultuous rhythms to produce an uncategorizable stampede of experimental rock (think sonic youth meets the stone roses in a psychotic ward).

a decent version of the brian jonestown massacre’s new masterpiece, my bloody underground, appears to have surfaced online a couple of weeks ago, (it is a bit different than the preview available from the band’s website this summer). and holy omfg is all i can say about this record. this is by far the saddest, most heartfelt, most disturbing collection of music i have heard from anton newcombe. and by that i don’t mean the typically sad music we have all come to expect from him. this is genuinely filled with an underlying, doomstricken hopelessness that manifests from his proverbial inner hanging gallows. i would honestly not be surprised if this is the last recording the band ever releases. and, in all sincerity, it would be a perfect swan song.

bjm’s first full-length in over four years, my bloody underground mixes the band’s distinguished blend of druggy, neo-psychedelia with an intensified sense of mood and atmosphere. most of the tracks found on this album are much less songs than they are strange, meandering collections of ambience: brain synapses, otherwordly anthems. “we are the niggers of the world” is a brilliantly sad piano piece, littered with mistakes and solecisms which only add to the album’s overtly haunting feeling of solitude. “dropping bombs on the whitehouse“, “yeah-yeah“, “golden frost” and “kicking jesus” bring typical bjm to mind, but these songs are more cruel than their predecessors — almost unsympathetic in a completely paradoxical way. (the songs themselves are rather quiet and most of the time even unobtrusive, yet the underlying tone still comes across as an enthusiastic fuck-you to anyone listening.)

an overwhelming shroud of insanity seems to blanket the remainder of the record: and that’s not a bad thing, as they perfectly complement their counterparts — hurling themselves in and out of existence with a blissful, narcissistic arrogance. these beautifully desperate clips infinitely magnify any feeling mankind has ever felt (the aforementioned “we are the niggers of the world“; the ethereal, mbv-inspired “ljosmyndir“; the hell-on-earth creepout of “automatic faggot for the people“; the despondent, aimless drifting of “dark wave driver / big drill car“).

my bloody underground is neurotic and restless and moody and brilliant. and the ultimate result is an experience that will enthrall and possibly terrify — a flawless coalescence of the band’s fifteen year back catalogue.

dudes plus babes & bff’s
1. panther - use your mouth breathe
2. holy fuck - the pulse
3. justice - d.a.n.c.e.
4. junior senior - move your feet
5. the go! team - keys to the city
6. justice vs. simian - we are your friends
7. c.s.s. - meeting paris hilton
8. the kbc - trippin’
9. primal scream - swastika eyes (jagz kooner mix)
10. dope stars inc. - self destructive corp.
11. wizardzz - sailship
12. mstrkrft - street justice
13. chromeo - fancy footwork (strip steve you & i remix)
14. daft punk - around the world (killdahype remix)
15. midnight juggernauts - road to recovery (miami horror remix)
16. klaxons - golden skans (sebastian remix)
17. m83 - teen angst (bird peterson thud mix)
18. simian mobile disco - it’s the beat (the teenagers remix)
19. veronica lipgloss & the evil eyes - let me see your eyes

i went to go see bears here in phoenix tonite, and WTF THEY WERE DONE PLAYING by the time i got there :’( i was so ttly sad it was horrible. i wanted to die, i wanted to slit my wrists (remember: it’s down the river not across the stream), i wanted to kill, i wanted to stab, i was so pissed. however i met all the bears dudes and they were all ttly awesome and gave me a tour ep with FOUR (count them, FOUR) brand new songs. let’s hear it for bears, they are awesome and THEY NEED A FUCKING LABEL DICKBAGS. someone sign them plz kthx omfg. THEY ARE TOURING RIGHT NOW SO GO SEE THEM AND BE HAPPIER THAN I WAS :/

also, dear bears if you read this i <3 u

the go team’s new album proof of youth leaked a few days ago and it is ttly filled with sweet
sweet jams (“keys to the city”) and neo-zelda themesongs (“patricia’s moving picture”) and schoolyard 4-square chants (“flashlight fight”) and funky guns-a-blazin’ grooves (“titanic vandalism”) and motivational speaking anthems (“doing it right”) and sim city background music (“my world”). basically this record is a requirement. also, basically it sounds exactly like what the cover looks like.

EDIT/// FUCK YOU websheriff. i hope no one buys this album and the go! team doesn’t gain any new fans.

anything associated with wolf parade is good and this is no exception.handsome furs‘ (featuring none other than dan boeckner of wolf parade) first record (plague park) is here and it is what you probably expect (good). basically, it takes dan’s weird, quivering wolf parade vocals and replaces the music with a sort of artsy panache somewhat evocative of tv on the radio. kind of sad, kind of muted, but still expressive(!), plague park stumbles around kind of like a drunken teenager in a small town and vomits sweetness. “handsome furs hate the city” is sort of like two moments in one: (1) at 4am when you are moderately drunk and walking around listening to music in a suburban town somewhere and no one is awake and you start wondering if they are all dead because they might as well be dead, and (2) when you are driving through traffic at lunchtime and the cars are barely moving and even though there are hundreds or thousands of people around it kind of seems like there are none and that everything is just a vaguely sculpted pseudo-reality of humanity and culture and you start to wonder wtf everything is really about anyway.

with so many deliberately vicious, vitriolic reminders of the mundanity of our lives, this album’s cunning melodies will ttly stop your heart in a way that you thought was only possible with booze. really, this record is about as close as you’ll get to being sad and walking around town late at night drinking a 40 without actually doing it.

natasha thirsk (left) is hott and an awesome singer/musicianfor some reason or another, some bands/singers/babez do not get the attention they deserve (even in the selfishly obscured indie prick circles). i am going to try to correct that every now and then.

natasha thirsk
not only is natasha a super hott canadian babe but she is also the singer of two incredibly underrated bands (both of which she lends her deliciously sexy voice to). thirsk’s first band, the dirtmitts, has released just two albums: 2001’s the dirtmitts (from which came the omfgically brilliant “fix & destroy”), and 2002’s slightly more introspective get on (see the stunning melodic energy of “bank card” or the artsy minimalism of “get the minus gone”). her most recent project is catlow, which takes some of the dirtmitts’ mild abstractions and adds some neo-discotheque moodswings and soundscapes to create a vibe as unpredictable as it is succulent. <3

basically no other acoustic musician can hold a candle to the brilliance of sexton blake. his album plays the hits is loaded with

80s covers done all acoustic style and omfg they are SOGOOD. seriously straight up double style OMFG @ milli vanilli’s “girl you know it’s true”. for realz though, this whole album is like sufjan, sam beam, sean lennon, elliott smith and sebadoh all rolled up into one FUCKING AWESOME TASTING CAKE THAT HAS A FEW CANDLES ON IT AND YOU ARE BLOWING THEM OUT AFTER YOU JUST GOT BACK FROM ROLLERSKATING AT YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY AND NOW FOR SOME REASON YOUR BIRTHDAY IS NOW TURNING INTO A MONTAGE. are you kidding me with that cover??? so awesome.

i don’t care what any of you bitches say. if i went to a bar/club and this song: kanye west - “stronger”, was playing on repeat the entire night, i would not even care. why? because i am listening to this song on repeat for like the last six hours as i drink coors light and dance to myself. omfg this song is a slice of heaven. i dont even know how to describe it. i would probalby describe it as basically pure awesomeness yep, that is how i would describe it.