I Never Meant To Cause You Any Sorrow
By Felicia & TK | Posted Under Music | Comments (39)
UrbanOutfitters.com and Nylon.com are currently offering free summer mixtape downloads for a limited time. The UO mix includes songs from St. Vincent, Grizzly Bear and Au Revior Simone. The Nylon mix includes songs from Phoenix, Of Montreal and Passion Pit. Sorry Urban, but a couple of free songs aren’t going to make up for the fact that I wasted months of my life working for your soul-sucking company (But you better believe I immediately downloaded the shit out of that mixtape).
—Felicia
Last Thursday, Faith No More apparently played the first gig of their reunion tour in London, their first show together in almost 11 years. While original guitarist Jim Martin wasn’t present, King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime guitarist Jon Hudson was. The set apparently blew the doors off the place, complete with Mike Patton and Roddy Bottom singing a duet of Peaches and Herb’s classic cheeze-hit “Reunited” as the opener. And of course, I wasn’t there. Rage consumes me. Please, Patton and company, please please please tour in the U.S. I’m begging you.
—TK
We reported here that Lauryn Hill was going on tour in Europe this summer. It looks like she has cancelled all the tour dates, including Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival, due to health reasons. No other details were released about these so-called “health problems” Hill is experiencing. Me thinks it has something to do with her brain though.
—Felicia
Spin Magazine will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of Prince’s Purple Rain in their July issue. There will be comprehensive articles and interviews, an in-depth history, and most interestingly, a nine song track-for-track tribute album that will be entitled Purplish Rain. It will actually include Appololia collaborating on the cover of “When Doves Cry.” I might actually buy Spin Magazine for once, though really I’m mostly just floored by the fact that Purple Rain came out 25 years ago.
—TK
Is Lady Gaga the new ultra pop star? Kanye West announced on The View last week that he will be co-headlining a tour with Lady Gaga later this year. She also just collaborated with Marilyn Manson on a remix of her song “LoveGame,” and worked on a Manson remix of a song off his new album The High End of Low. No further details of the West/Gaga tour have been released yet. I admit I don’t hate Lady Gaga, but I don’t love her either. I would be interested to see what this concert would bring though.
—Felicia
We mentioned here last week that The Pretenders were going on tour with Juliette Lewis and Cat Power. My heart skipped a beat when I read the headline in our local paper, but then considerably dropped when I heard the venue was at the Minnesota Zoo and that they were charging an exorbitant $68 per ticket. Firstly, the zoo is the dumbest place to hold a concert of that caliber. Although I have not been there myself, word is that the only seating at the outdoor amphitheater are long steel benches. Secondly it is out in the burbs, which is a total buzzkill. Thirdly, I’m not a fucking millionaire. $68?????(*&(@$^!)#*$! Anyway,it was reported in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today that the concert’s venue is changing possibly due to Chrissie Hynde’s viewpoints on animal rights. Hynde wrote to the zoo after hearing their petting zoo animals are sent to be slaughtered afterwards. The concert promoters and the zoo are saying the change in venue was a mutual decision based on a variety of reasons including high demand for tickets. I definitely smell a rat with that damn excuse because I’m pretty sure people aren’t too hyped to be paying 68 freaking dollars. For one freaking ticket!!!
—Felicia
Here’s your Monday Afternoon Playlist. Please to enjoy.
Felicia: I’m currently listening to The Kills’ 2008 album Midnight Boom. I’m still trying to figure out how I got the album, because I know I didn’t buy it. I swear it just appeared in my iTunes library one day. Regardless, I’m glad it magically appeared because it’s a diamond in the rough and I’m not sure why it took me so long to listen to it. Lead singer Alison Mosshart is currently heading up Jack White’s side project The Dead Weather. One of my favorites from the Midnight Boom album is “Cheap and Cheerful.”
TK: There’s no question in my mind that one of the best hip hop albums of the decade that didn’t come out of Minneapolis was Ghostface Killah’s Fishscale. One of my favorite tracks on that album is “Back Like That,” a smooth, brilliant track replete with finger snaps, slick bass grooves and Ne-Yo’s silky voice on the hook — all of which serves as a perfect compliment to Ghostface’s in-your-face Staten Island-accented vocal stylings. It’s great stuff.
Boo: Grizzley Bear, “Southern Point.” Whoa! I love this album, Veckatimist, so much more than I anticipated. This first track is a pitch-perfect combination of energized drums, jangly guitar and percussion, and summer road trip mix. I’ve got this album on repeat.
Chris: “Paper Dolls” by Hyder Ali is proof that not only does Minneapolis have the best local hip-hop scene in the country, but more specifically that up here we know that while the DJ is much respected, sometimes you can’t beat rhymes atop a live band. Atmospheric guitars and crisp percussion cascades underneath the rippling wordsmithery, making for a song as moving as it is groove-inducing.
Christian: Sufjan Stevens, “Demetrius” - For some reason, it’s taken me years to pick up indie-pop icon Sufjan Stevens’ A Sun Came!. Perhaps I was just under the impression that it would be like every other Stevens disc; fantastic, but not too different from anything else he’s written. Color me stunned; this darkly grungy rocker recalls Sunny Day Real Estate, a low-fi guitar hum and bare drums colliding under Stevens bizarre, even creepy vocals, layered with electronic textures that make it sound like he’s moaning underwater. Between this album and the song “You Are The Blood” (from the Dark Was The Night compilation), I’m starting to wonder how people so easily overlook Sufjan Stevens’ ability to be dark and experimental instead of being the constantly peppy Christian singer who you heard in the Little Miss Sunshine trailer.
Finally, this week the number one album spot goes to… The Dave Matthews Band, and their new, ridiculously titled Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Eminem is second, and 311 (who I really assumed were going to hang it up), Chickenfoot and Green Day follow. Chickenfoot. Sigh.
TK and Felicia bring you Music News each Monday, when they’re not spending their time as a costumed crimefighting duo.
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Comments
Posted by: ChristianH at June 15, 2009 12:16 PM
Actually, I saw Ben Kweller open for Guster at the zoo (I was not there for Guster, believe you me). It's an AWESOME place to see a show. Especially if the weather is nice. The sound is great, the view is actually quite nice (behind the stage, it's all nature. Really beautiful).