Pop Montreal Demands More Sujfan Stevens
The house lights came on. And so did the house music. Sufjan Stevens had just given the Montreal a stellar set culminating in crowd-pleaser "Chicago." He'd even come back on stage for a (mostly) solo encore of the haunting "John Wayne Gacy." But the audience wanted more. They shouted. They whistled. They chanted one more song. And by "they," I mean "we." I was as eager as anyone to hear some more. It was a phenomenal show, and we all wanted it to keep it going. It had been too long since we'd heard anything new from one of the... read more
Pop Montreal Report: The Mystery of Fever Ray
I think I saw Fever Ray last night. I definitely heard Karin Dreijer's music, saw her laser show and watched shadows of what I can only assume were the band performing song's off Fever Ray's self-titled album—a side-project from one-half of The Knife that's starting to garner more attention than the original band. But Dreijer herself remained hidden—first in a coat that gave her a silhouette that looked like one of Maurice Sendak's Wild Things and then simply in the darkness.... read more
Electroids 9V USB Phone Charger (Awesome of the Day)
After the Matt and Kim show a couple of nights ago at Pop Montreal, as I stumbled home following the handy directions on my iPhone's Map app, the battery died, turning my 10-minute walk into a 20-minute search. But that's because I've yet to build the curiously handy 9V charger from Electroids out of an old Altoids can, string and some duct tape. OK, so maybe the component parts are a little more high tech—but if you've got the Altoids tin, Electroids will provide the rest. ... read more
Best Discovery of Pop Montreal (So Far): Holger
The 2009 Pop Montreal festival kicked off last night with an opening party at a little warehouse on Hutchison that turned into a local fashion show. The clothes were interesting, but it was the music that I'd made the trip for, and I began my night by catching a five-piece rock act from Sao Paulo, Brazil, called Holger. It was a much better way to get the four-night festival going than any catwalk could be. ... read more
The Dodos "Fables" Video (Awesome of the Day)
Echoing the cover imagery of their sophomore LP, Time To Die, confetti factors in the otherwise straightforward video for the album's first single, "Fables." Directed by Matt Amato, the video is like the band's music—simple and gorgeous. Its arrival also serves as a nice introduction to the band's third member Keaton Snyder as he adds a nice touch of vibes to Meric Long and Logan Kroeber's guitar/drum mix.... read more
10 Awesome Scenes From Arrested Development
The Office still has its moments. Modern Family shows some promise. And 30 Rock is coming back in October. But since it went off the air in 2006, no sitcom has made me laugh as much as Arrested Development. The movie may or may not happen sometime before Michael Cera starts getting adult roles, but we'll always have these three perfect seasons. And right now we've got two of them on Hulu. Here are 10 clips to help explain our obsession with this show. ... read more
Baby Clownfish (Awesome of the Day)
No, that's not the latest animal band name (though you're welcome to use it if you're more twee than these guys). They're just the latest addition into the Jackson family. Two years ago, my parents got tired of scraping algae off their 50-gallon salt-water aquarium, and I volunteered to provide their fish with a new home. Included in the deal was a pair of clownfish named (of course) Nemo and Marlin. Nemo even had a gimpy right fin. When Nemo eventually died, I bought Marlin a new buddy that my kids named (of course) Nemo. The pair seemed to get... read more
Ten Out Of Tenn Vol. III (Awesome of the Day)
For a city that's known for 10-gallon-hat country, Nashville has quietly begun to flourish this decade as a place for rock-leaning singer/songwriters. Exhibit A is the third album from Music City collective Ten Out of Tenn: Ten tracks from 10 solo artists who are doing their best to put the Nashvegas label to rest. Founder Trent Dabbs and bandleader K.S. Rhoads are the only remaining members of the original Ten Out of Tenn tour in 2005, but there's plenty of new talent on Vol. III to keep the tradition alive. Newcomers include Kyle Andrews, Andrew Belle, Madi Diaz, Mikky... read more
Happy Birthday, Bruce Springteen! Five Videos that Show Why He's the Boss (Awesome of the Day)
It's hard to believe, but Bruce Springsteen turns 60 today. To celebrate the occasion, I've been watching some of his performances on YouTube, and here are five of my favorites. I finally saw him live earlier this year at Bonnaroo, and fully grasped the whole "Boss" thing. ... read more
Monsters of Folk "The Right Place" Video (Awesome of the Day)
There's something gimmicky about most super-groups, but Monsters of Folk just seems like a really stacked band. The only gimmick was the rule that only Jim James, Conor Oberst, M. Ward and Mike Mogis would play on the self-titled record, which came out today. They take turns singing and playing drums, bass, piano and guitars, and the whole thing comes across as four of our generation's greatest talents having a really good time creatively. The harmonies are unsurprisingly gorgeous, as James and Oberst show on the band's black-and-white, Airstream-and-yard-gnome-filled video for "The Right Place." You can read our interview with... read more
TV Soundtrack Award: House Season 6 Premiere ("Broken")
House's epic two-hour Season Six premiere, "Broken," wasn't just great television. It was great music. Dr. House, or Greg—as he's known in the mental ward—went through the worst of rehab to the strains of Radiohead's "No Surprises." Next came Iron & Wine with a cover of New Order's "Love Vigilante" and James Hunter with "No Smoke Without Fire." And the episode closed with The Frames' "Seven Day Mile." It's nice to know that TV shows don't have to feature spoiled adolescents or hot young doctors to get a great soundtrack these days. Kudos to Von Varga in the sound department... read more
The Atlanta Flood (Not So Awesome of the Day)
Here at Paste, we're starting preparations for the ark with two Grizzly Bears, two Fleet Foxes and one big Animal Collective. We're listening to our favorite Rainy Day Playlist, and avoiding the wet outdoors. The photo above was taken by Paste web designer Steve Thorson outside his house. Here's what the weather has wrought in our fair city of Atlanta (enough to make us a trending topic on Twitter: #atlflood):... read more
Pearl Jam's Backspacer Streaming at MySpace (Awesome of the Day)
You don't have to wait for that Sunday trip to Target to hear Pearl Jam's ninth studio album Backspacer—even if you're not one of the band's 72,191 friends MySpace friends. Just stop by the band's TenClub page on MySpace and decide if we got it right in our review. Just make sure that before you sing along, you follow our illustrated how-to guide.... read more
Community on NBC (Awesome of the Day)
Since the days of Cosby, Cheers, Family Ties and Night Court in the '80s, NBC has worked hard to deliver a solid two-hour block of comedy programming. Seinfeld and Friends dominated the '90s, alongside forgettable shows like Suddenly Susan and Veronica's Closet. For a brief moment in 2007, it looked like the Thursday night magic was back with The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs and My Name Is Earl. But then Earl jumped shark after shark only to get canceled and Scrubs migrated to ABC. The latest replacements, the dreadful Kath & Kim and the disappointing Parks and Recreation failed to earn... read more
kanyelicio.us (Awesome of the Day)
Continuing our Kanye fallout coverage, today we celebrate the single-minded kanyelicio.us/. Just add the URL of your favorite website to the end, and you'll get Kanye's opinion. Here's what he thinks of PasteMagazine.com - http://kanyelicio.us/http://www.pastemagazine.com.And, of course, here's his take on TaylorSwift.com - http://kanyelicio.us/http://www.taylorswift.com. ... read more
Kanye West Apology Video (Awesome of the Day)
I'm not sure how the folks at Red Label Films pulled this off so quickly, but here's a new animated video of Kanye West apologizing for his idiotic actions last night at MTV's VMAs. Apparently Auto-Tune can't fix everyone's vocals, but horrible singing aside, this cracked me up. "IM NOT CRAZY YALL, IM JUST REAL." ... read more
Frank Turner "The Road" video (Awesome of the Day)
In the last three years, hardcore frontman-turned-folk-punk singer Frank Tuner has logged some 700 shows in his native U.K. and is currently touring the U.S. So it's fitting that his video for "The Road" captures Turner playing 24 shows in 24 hours. ... read more
Monolith Festival (Awesome of the Day)
Less than an hour outside of Denver at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, this weekend's Monolith Festival boasts a stellar lineup and an even better view. One of Paste's 40 Best Venues in America ("Best place to have your mind blown by music and nature"), the natural amphitheater of red sandstone monoliths sits in the middle of a State park. ... read more
Whynatte Latte
(Awesome of the Day)
Here in Atlanta, they start you young on the Coca-Cola, and for most of my life, my caffeine has come from a can—I didn't start drinking coffee until a few years ago. Now I've found a new way to get my caffeine from a can thanks to another Atlanta-based beverage company—Whynatte. Whynatte Latte comes in an eight-ounce serving fortified with a plethora of mysteriously helpful vitamins and nutrients—Riboflavin, Niacin, Taurine, L-Carnitine, Gensing, Guarana Seed Extract. For the past several weeks, it's been my morning jolt. ... read more
Tony Hale's Ctrl (Awesome of the Day)
NBC just finished its 10-episode run of Ctrl, a web series starring Arrested Development alum Tony Hale as a beaten-down office worker with a very literal keyboard—Ctrl Z creates a do-over, Ctrl B gives him boldness. But his newfound power gets out of control quickly.... read more
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