Filed under: Rock Almanac

Spinner.com: On This Date in 1990: 'I'm Your Baby Tonight,' by Whitney Houston, seizes the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. The Almanac Advises for December 1: "One unusual sexual fetish is called paraphilic infantilism, in which adults dress... Read more

The economy's been tricky everywhere, even Scrooge McDuck's homeland, so when the Twilight Sad went on tour with fellow Scots Mogwai, they put together the Goo-referencing The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents And Hit The Road, a limited-edition collection of covers, live tracks, and instrumentals to help fund the trip. The quartet takes on the Smiths, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Joy Division via Closer's "Twenty Four Hours," which shows up as this week's Drop. We asked guitarist Andy MacFarlane about his band's Ian Curtis impression: Read his responses and take a listen.

By the by, The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents And Hit The Road is available for pre-order via the FatCat USA webstore.

In this week's Drop, we also offered the chance to win a limited-edition Monkey: Journey To The West vinyl boxset designed by Gorillaz's Jamie Hewlett.

In this special Thanksgiving installment of Quit Your Day Job, Frankie Rose and I talk a lot about drinks. When not bartending at Great Jones Cafe in New York City the ex-Vivian Girl plays stand-up drums in Crystal Stilts, the Brooklyn band that recently released Alight Of Night, a tight collection of dark minimalist, melancholic pop. Again, think Ian Curtis-on-Spector on down-tempo Chills. It's one of my 2008 favorites. After our discussion about the Shaggy, Vodka Lemonades, Purple Titties, and strange celebrity sightings take another listen to the harmonica-and-feedback-entwined "Shattered Shine" and detached surf haze of "Crystal Stilts." Pay attention to her drumming.

You heard its funky first single and now you can peek the morbid album cover for Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. It's meant to emulate Weegee crime scene photographs of NYC from the 1940s. Check it at NME.com.

If Kanye West looked uncomfortable answering Conan O'Brien's questions last night, it wasn't because he was nervous. This defense of Auto-Tune that came eight minutes into the interview should explain things...

"If I sing off-key it really points that out. It points out the bad notes. So I actually have to sing more perfect. But I use it because I like the electronic feel. I like the sound. I want to juxtapose Taiko drums and monk choirs with Auto-Tune. I deliver music like it's art. I feel like I'm a Pop Artist. Sidebar: I have to use the bathroom really, really bad, and they didn't give me enough time, I just wanted to tell you that."

Cue awkward silence. I felt bad for him, but as Conan pointed it, it added a sense of urgency to what he was saying. Based on the dryness of Kanye's khakis during the subsequent performance of "Heartless," it looks like he got to use a restroom during Seth MacFarlane's segment.

I wrote earlier about Shotgun Crackers here on Meadowmusic, and I have listened a lot to their songs. I get a real feeling of joy when I listen to them. The band has just completed their new EP “Kpptsch” (is it maybe the sound of the snare and the cymbal?) and they release it here on Meadowmusic first, for everyone to download! It’s just as playful as before but it sounds more “mature”. And I mean that in a positive sense, the guys in the band are incredibly musical and play well together. That was a [...]

Blog: Meadow Music
Artists: Shotgun Crackers, Håkan Hellström

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Jensen Sportag to release EP on 12.02 + Nashville show!
Red Wire Black Wire to release EP on 11.25
School Boy Humor to release EP on Nov 4, Fall Dates Confirmed
Anjulie Set to Release 'The Boom EP' on 11/11, Free mp3 Single for 'Boom'
ANGUS AND JULIA STONE TO RELEASE HOLLYWOOD EP ON NOVEMBER 11 THROUGH iTUNES

Filed under: Celebrity Doppelganger

Spinner.com: Looks like Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel have more in common than that whole singing thing. Everyone's favorite girl-kissing pop star and everyone's favorite actress-turned-indie-rock-darling (Deschanel is the 'She' in the duo She & Him) look so... Read more

The Prodigy will give away the title track of their new album “Invaders Must Die” as a free download today. The song can be downloaded on Wednesday from 7.30pm on the band’s website, TheProdigy.com, and will be available for the next week. “Invaders Must Die” is released on March 2nd The tracklisting is: “Invaders Must Die” “Omen” “Thunder&#8221 ; “Colours” “Take Me To The Hospital” “Warrior’s Dance” “Run With The Wolves” “Omen Reprise” “World’s On Fire” “Piranha” “Stand Up”

Blog: Comfortcomes.com

Related:
The Streets new album out Sept 15, download first single "The Escapist"
Karin Ström has a new single out today c...
The Black Ghosts: single out today with Damon Albarn guest vox
The Vines: new album out today
You won't hear a debut as original and exciting as this all year: Cleveland duo mr. Gnome finds unique alchemy of Cat Power, Death from Above 1979, Blonde Redhead, Celebration and Pelican. First single "Pirates" available for download now.

"Tainted Love" - My Brightest Diamond       Yes, it's that song. Fingertips doesn't traffic in covers very often--hardly ever, actually--but that's not because I have anything against someone singing someone else's song. It's just hard, I think, in the end, to take the focus off the mere act of covering--hard, that is, to turn the new version into truly its own performance. The original is always the unspoken third person in the room between the performer and the listener. If the new version is a respectful homage, well, there it obviously is; if the cover, on the other hand, is [...]

Blog: Fingertips

Related:
Fingertips returns, with free and legal MP3s from My Brightest Diamond, and more
Free and legal MP3 from Geoff Ereth (smartly paced orchestral folk)
Free and legal MP3 from Peppertree (French Canadian indie rock, with character and atmosphere)
Free and legal MP3 from Ancient Free Gardeners (distinctive, meandering yet meticulous rock from Australia)
Free and legal MP3 from Dead Heart Bloom (indie rockers who love their Bowie and Mott)

I know it might be a bit much to say Slumdog's a "Great Movie" in a music blog post title because I am not a film critic (yet). But last night I got into a long conversation with Lindsay about it and she agrees, so I'm just gonna say it's the Best Movie and you should see it ASAP. I made a forced reference to the Danny Boyle-directed heartwarmer when talking about Sigur Rós and how "Hoppípolla" is in the film trailer, but that was before I realized Maya's got a new song called "O Saya," with soundtrack composer A.R. Rahman, that turns up in the film. MTV praises Rahman's work on the OST for "mixing the disparate worlds of Bollywood and hip hop," which is true, but as you'll hear it's a more integrated and creative fusion than previous Hindi-hop exercises. Here's "O Saya":