Category Archive

What to say, what to say. My time management when it comes to the News-ish Round-Up … Well, it simply sucks. While I have tons of stories and happenings to relate, I started way too late yesterday, didn’t get very far, time and work-related pressure overtook me … And I never got the damned thing done. Then, despite my best intentions, it’s such a beautiful day today I can’t bring myself to stay put long enough to complete the News-ish Round-Up.

So, anywho, all I’ve got to report is that 15-year-old Miley Ray Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) may or may not be America’s little darling anymore now that she’s posed in some racy (again, for a 15-year-old) photos by Annie Liebowitz for Vanity Fair.

Sure, I think the photos are slightly strange. But, isn’t that what art is supposed to do? Move you? Make you think? Apparently, the photos have many involved diving for cover, pointing fingers, and, generally, scrambling about ensuring their dollars, I mean asses, are protected. And observers are left either sticking their nose in shouting about how it is pure child pornography or that people need to get over themselves. As the Bean would say, “I’m just saying.” Talk among yourselves.

For all you cheapskates that just come for the music samples, have at this …

   The Phi Mu Washboard Band - This Land

It’s once again time to round up the news-ish! Since we’ve started this post I’m proud to say that we’ve managed to steer clear from commenting on celebrity relationships, because we really don’t give a crap who’s secretly married or not, who’s engaged because she’s pregnant or not. Leave it to me to break this admirable streak, but this love connection made me go whozajiggawhat?!? This news is a bit older, but Devendra Banhart and Natalie Portman, people. That’s almost as strange a pairing as two historical figures from different continents and time periods hooking up, like say … Cleopatra and Mussolini. For the longest time, I’ve had a girl-crush on Natalie Portman, so maybe it’s just jealousy talking but not in a shmajillion years did I expect these two to get it on, to put it grossly. I know she’s been in one of his videos and he made a song for some charity thing she did, but still. I like this couple in an existential sort of way, it reminds me that anything can happen at any time.

I was always under the impression that Bright Eyes was Conor Oberst’s stage alter ego, like Ziggy Stardust, or Mariah’s Mimi, or Lightspeed Champion. But he recently revealed he’s going to be releasing a solo album soon … OK I love his music, but what the hell has he been doing all the other times? I thought Bright Eyes was basically the Conor Oberst show, how much more Obersty can it get? I’m intrigued.

Elvis’ visit to London in 1958 ranks up there with legends like Jesus’ visit to Glastonbury made famous by William Blake’s poem And Did Those Feet. Well, it looks like The King’s feet did indeed touch British soil back then. I bet there’s an old Londoner out there who’s been saying for years that he once shared a pint with him and people would smile, shake their heads, and say ’sure old man, that happened’. Finally vindicated, he must feel pretty good about himself, he probably printed ‘I told you so’ on a t-shirt. Oh, and just so there’s no confusion I’m not comparing Jesus to Elvis, John Lennon’s 1966 snafu taught me better.

The Smashing Pumpkins’ announcement that they may not make another album, is the kind of info we try to cover with the -ish in New-ish. It’s vague and non-descript and oh yeah, I don’t care. I mean, who does? This also goes for Ryan Adams and Lily Allen’s ill-advised new love affair with the peroxide bottle. Apparently working on new albums makes you want to go blonde.

Oh-oh-oh, check out my new favorite video! If the song doesn’t blow your mind, the crafty visuals will. Embroidery, Mexican wrestlers, monkeys, and totem poles are just some of the things that’ll tickle your retina. Here’s Architecture In Helsinki’s “Like It Or Not”:

I’m pee-my-pants excited over Weezer’s upcoming “red album”. The glorious blue album still makes it into my CD player - how come saying that makes me feel like I might as well have been cranking up the phonograph? - a lot. The stoopid good “Pork & Beans” streamed on their site is reminiscent of the glory days, which is a good thing.

Scott Weiland may have left a big gap to fill with his semi-forced ousting, but to the remaining Velvet Revolvers this is an opportunity to cause a big stir and announce they’re looking for a new singer on the internet. If you think you have what it takes to front Velvet Revolver, tape yourself looking over a big hat covering a bushel of frizzy hair whilst exercising your vocal chords and maybe you’ll be picked to do that for a living. The Pipettes lost two whole members and managed to replace them with much less hoohaw then the aforementioned band.

We end with the lyrical whirlwind that is Nas. The wannabe punk in me loves it when people stir the pot for all the right reasons. No other word could cause this much of a ruckuss and has scholars, politicians, as well as talk shows debating it as much as the N-word. Nas new controversially titled album, that may or may not see a release has had people up in arms for a while now. Nahright gives us a preview of shockingly delicious things to come with “Be A Nigger Too”, if the record will be released. I think we should trust that he wouldn’t just do this for the sake of childish attention, as shown with this song. The track starts with a ‘turn the radio up’, but I seriously doubt it’s gonna be getting a lot airplay. He’s taking the power out of the notorious word, as well as other words offensive to different ethnic groups, in the chorus with dull repitition, except that it’s far from dull. I mean it’s Nas, of course it’s amazing, profound and, dare I say, catchy, but even as a ehm ‘chink n-word’, you won’t find me singing it on any street corners just yet.

   Nas - Be A Nigger Too

Alright, just to set the tone for this week’s collection of non-news stories: a Venezuelan TV station has deemed The Simpsons inappropriate for mid-morning television. Instead, they’ve decided to treat young children to a healthy dose of Baywatch. Yup, that sounds about right.

Moving on. After the absolutely astounding success of Get Rich Or Die Trying (though we all know Tamboosh is secretly dying to see it, that’s why I’m totally going to buy it for her on DVD for her upcoming birthday), 50 Cent is in talks to star in the upcoming movie Spectacular. He’ll play “a death row inmate whose imminent execution has made him a cause celebre”. Oh dear, he may actually have to act in this one. No good can come of this.

In perhaps even stupider news, if it could possibly be called that, a “major music-oriented television channel … that asked not to be identified” has pitched a new reality show featuring Axl Rose, following his attempts to finish Chinese Democracy. (Hmm. Now what music-oriented channel might show reality shows? I just can’t think of any.) Seriously, who do they think is going to watch that? Do we all get a free Dr. Pepper if we tune in each week?

And, oh yeah, just in case you haven’t read it on every other site on the entire internets, Pete Doherty’s in jail. It’s all just too shocking.

Lastly, and all sarcasm aside for just one second, let’s take a moment to celebrate the beauty that is Air’s Moon Safari, a truly wonderful album coming up on it’s 10th birthday.

   Air - Sexy Boy

Yeah, so what. I start all of posts with excuses about why my post might (probably) sucks eggs. This week I have yet another excuse. A good one. For me at least. I bought a refurbished MacBook Pro from Apple and, hot damn, it’s sweet! So, I phaffed about for the past four or five days setting it up. What this meant is I had to export and import all my RSS feeds and all the entries was zapped to Kingdom Come.

Anywho, onto this edition of my disjointed and disconnected collection of news-ish tidbits … a.k.a. some stuff that comes from the Interweb into your feeder reader for people that don’t know the news too good.

I may have nuked my backlogged feeds, but you couldn’t have missed the blow-up over what seems to now be known as the ‘Barack Obama Race Speech’ or ‘A More Perfect Union’ or Obama really taking on the elephant in the corner of his campaign or Obama taking on the even bigger elephant crushing the United States with his big ass. Predictably, the Right - in this instance, the White Right, most notably - is all up in tizzy.

(Beware: This video is the FULL speech, running nearly 38 minutes.)

From the inspiring to the painful. Submitted for your approval, two tales about the pathetic and their attempts to mean something to someone somewhere:

Tale #1: The Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records over the licensing of their tracks to Pepsi and Amazon.com. Their reasons? Negatively impacting the credibility they worked ever so hard for years to build with their fans. … They still have fans?

Tale #2: NME, the infamous rag that loves a band or artist one week and hates them the next, is making a Robbie Williams-style attempt to become relevant in the U.S. Good luck. Prediction: NME will fail miserably and then write off the U.S. as musically useless.

This month’s 100best of … selection, Elvis Costello, is opting to release his upcoming album (Momofuku) via digital download and vinyl only. Interesting. Somewhere a record exec just pooped herself a bit.

Undoubtedly, the number and variety of reality crap (*COUGH*), I mean, shows is just out of hand and definitely, somehow, at the heart of the decline of Western Civilization. Even so … Oh. My. God. Let this be shown in the U.K.! The concept is so cringable I can’t not look. I’m so gonna be thuggin to this.

Weezer, Justice, The Klaxons, Mars Volta, DJ Shadow. No, that’s not the lineup for an indie/underground festival. That’s a selection of the artists on the Gran Turismo 5 soundtrack, scheduled for release for the PS3 in April.

On March 16, tamboosh clued you into the existence of hip hop at SXSW with some cuts from The Cool Kids. Well, here’s another I bumped into on my travels along the musical backroads of this so-called Information Superhighway (shout out to The Rap Up) …

   The Carps (ft The Cool Kids) - Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames
   (Warning: 12.28 MondoBites!)

Want to know more about The Carps? Check out their CarpSpace.

That’s it. I’m done. Out.

Is it more embarrassing to be a good rapper but a horrible actor, or a bad rapper but a good actor in a movie about a rap legend? I’m thinking the latter, which is why it’s a good thing they went with an actual rapper to play Biggie Smalls in the upcoming feature Notorious. Jamal Woolard, aka Gravy, aka that guy who got shot in the ass, is the lucky man who gets to play the big man. I’m not saying he’s automatically a bad actor, maybe he’ll pull a Mos Def or a Ludacris and light up the screen like a pro, but it is his first attempt at it so it’s gonna be interesting. In small screen news, Britney is going to play a little part in an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother. I’ve never seen the show but to answer the earlier question of what is more embarrassing: Britney is. How come nobody tells her that maybe it’s a good idea to have your shiz together before you go out for a part in a comedy? Geez. Didn’t your momma teach you to stop being the butt of the joke before you make your own?

MusicMagpie.co.uk had themselves a poll and the English public decided that Joy Division’s Unkown Pleasures is the most iconic album cover of all time. Yeah, that sounds about right, especially with the recent attention the band’s been getting lately. But I am surprised to see The Velvet Underground & Nico’s banana isn’t even in the top ten, it would definitely top my list. The only problem with these iconic covers is the superbly creative ways in which their popularity is milked. Remember the Unknown Pleasures inspired New Balance shoes?? Barf. I just don’t see how treading on your favorites band’s image is an expression of appreciation.

Some really good music first saw the light of day these last two weeks starting with M.I.A. & DJ Znobia’s collaboration with Buraka Som Sistema on “Sound Of Kuduro”. It’s absolutely mind blowingly amazing. My first reaction was to bust a move, but then I saw the kids in the video … They shamed me into sitting back down and hoping my headnods were on the beat.

Then the Bean alerted me that the band that makes me drool like a Pavlovian German shepherd by the mere mention of them, The Black Keys, lets us sneak a taste of their upcoming new release produced by Dangermouse. Listen to “Psychotic Girl” over on Stereogum. It’s beyond exciting, so incredibly good it hurts.

Nick Cave also has exciting news, but it’s not music related. He’s planning to finally follow up his deeply disturbing gothic novel And The Ass Saw The Angel. Yay, I can’t wait! It took me a while to finish his book, because you have to be in a certain Tim Burtonesque mood to read it, but I was surprised at how much enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to the next one.

Some of the news was so crazy that it practically forced me to set up a WTF section:
There’s talk of a Libertines musical. WTF?!? I wonder who’s going to play them?? Obviously, John Barrowman would make a good Carl and Ewan Mcgregor could combine his performances in Moulin Rouge and Trainspotting and channel Pete. Yeah, now the idea of a Libertines musical is starting to grow on me. This is followed up with reports that Pete Doherty is going to talk to teenage drug addicts. I actually think this would be a good way to use his celebrity and crack stained past. Yes, it’s on a TV show, which is a bit mweh, but at least he might help out some people.

Equally baffling but in a whole different screwed up way is the robbery surrounding early nineties industrial rock band Cop Shoot Cop. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single Cop Shoot Cop song, but the fact that this guy was in a band once upon a time, gives me an excuse to talk about this sad sad attempt at robbery. The former guitarist of the band used, as I understand it, a parfume bottle shaped like a gun for a weapon. You either have to have balls the size of melons or brains the size of a walnut or a screwy fruitsalady combo of both to pull a stunt like that.

The final WTF is no surprise. The Enemy’s frontman continues his career in Twatdom as he criticizes Arctic Monkeys yet again, but adds Muse to the list this time while he drools over Oasis and Manic Street Preachers. I know I’m just generating more heat when I give this guy attention, but I just can’t help being fascinated by the whole thing. It’s just so incredibly pathetic the way he continues to go on about how much the Arctic Monkeys are overrated. Well, at least he’s consistent, when I first wrote about them on New Band Day a while ago, I learned they started their band because they were bored with the “shit people” in their “shit town”. He just branched out to adding successful bands to his shit list. Now that’s growth.

My favorite news this week comes from Wale, an MC and huge Seinfeld fan from Washington DC, has made a Seinfeld-inspired mix tape! I don’t even want to get into the whole Seinfeld-Larry King freak out or Michael Richards not so funny stand up freak out. Let’s just say that now that half the former cast are displaying some questionable behavior it’s good to have a reminder of what made the show great.

And finally some sad news, while The Charlatans enjoy their biggest high so far with their free downloadable CD, The Dead 60s announce they split up. I was never a big fan but I did enjoy them rioting on the radio. If you still want to catch The Charlatans’ You Cross My Path you have five more days to go on over to XFM and snatch it up.

   The Dead 60s - Riot Radio

Well, guys, it’s been a slow news week. If anything big and not totally stupid (basically anything related to Mr. and Mrs. McCartney, as if anyone gives a tiny rat’s ass) happened, I missed it. Here’s some interesting news-ish things I did find around the interwebs.

First things first, congratulations to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova on their Oscar this week. I’ve not actually seen Once yet, but I was still pleased that a little indie song won a big fat Oscar. And congratulations to the Academy cutting back the stingy and allowing Marketa Irglova the extra 15 seconds she needed to say thank you.

No Rock And Roll Fun points us to a CNN Money article explaining that iTunes is now second only to Wal-Mart as the highest music retailer in the U.S. I’m not at all surprised really - digital music is just too damn convenient. But it is a little sad to see proper record shops die a slow and painful death. Remember how everyone was all worried that the printed word would die with the internet and other assorted technological advances? As if people really want to read books on a little screen when they’re curled up in bed. But it turns out that’s what’s happening to record shops, slowly but surely. Tamboosh just told me the other day that Boudisque, Amsterdam’s very best music shop, is closing their doors at the end of March. That’s a damn shame, and I think we should all take a moment to mourn, even if you’ve never been there and even though they’ll still have other branches around Holland - it’s like the shop in High Fidelity but without the snobbery. We loved to go in there just to see what was up and it kind of felt like home.

In a related online story, No Rock and Roll Fun also (sorry for stealing all your stories today, guys) links to this Guardian post about the lost art of listening to an album for the first time. Graeme Thomson writes: “I’d clear some time and space, put the record on and sit with sleeve in hand, drinking in every last detail. I’d listen to it end-to-end a few times, letting it slowly seep in and under the skin.” Me too. And, sadly, I don’t really do it anymore either. I think a lot of it time related - I just don’t have the same free time as I did back in high school. But I do still save new releases for the perfect time for my first listen, and I do still read the liner notes and lyrics. I’m all for the digital revolution, but that was a nice little ritual back then, and Mr. Thomson’s post brings back fond memories of hearing some classic albums for the first time.

Totally unrelated, it seems that there’s going to be some more dead icons flogging shoes. Oh, dear. Nevermind how disgusting it is to have Ian Curtis involved in this - there’s something so depressing to me about Sid Vicious on products. I once saw a cheap plastic-y handbag with Sid & Nancy on it at the Notting Hill market. It’s always stuck in my head as one of the most depressing items I’ve ever seen - I can’t understand why Sid Vicious is seen as cool when he was really just a totally messed up kid. Anyway, let’s hope this shoe thing isn’t the start of a new “Dead Icons Selling Dumb Crap” trend, I’ll seriously have to go Falling Down on their asses.

   Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve

Remember, I live in the U.K. So, I didn’t watch this year’s Grammy Awards. To be totally honest, I didn’t even realize they were even happening (*gasp*). This is a good example of why you probably think my News-ish Roundups are weak. Zing!

I’m not going to rehash the results good or bad. However, a few of the commentaries I read mentioned Alicia Keys tearing it up in her performance of “No One” with John Mayer. And, damn, if she didn’t. She made it Big. Check it for yourself if you didn’t see it go down.

The Gray Lady seemed to lament the “kiss off” of young fans by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in this year.

On a decidedly more depressing level - I don’t even know if I should feed this particular Attention Gobbler, be she real or not - have you heard about 90 Day Jane? By the way, that link will no longer take you anywhere. This morning it did and I read some of her blog. What was the deal? The short story: She was (or is) going to kill herself in 90 days. There were 82 days left this morning. By the time I checked shortly before finishing this post her blog was ~POOF!~ gone. So I did Columbo-ing on Google. Here’s the take from two sites: Way of the Mind and Museum of Hoaxes. Will she appear at another free blog provider? I hope not.

What exactly is Lupe Fiasco trying to say about racism? I swear he contradicts himself so many times I lost count and got confused trying to follow him. He talks about being a monk. Living in a hole in the ground or the Matrix or something. Is he saying racism was good? Is it bad? I hate when people, the media, whoever tries to elevate not necessarily bright, downright dumb, or just plain normal intelligence celebrities and assume they’ve got something good to say because they’re, well, celebrities.

Um, yeah. What he said. Maybe. … I think. Nevermind.

Finally, the RIAA may not be as dense as the Washington Post story indicates. And, finally, speaking of the RIAA, they continue to make the situation worse and anger a few more people. Go Oregon!

OK first off, the most exciting news I’ve heard since I learned about deep fried mars bars, the New Kids On The Block are getting back together after 13 long years!! But Tamboosh, aren’t you sick of all the reuniting late eighties/early nineties bands? Uh yah, but this is NKOTB!! I was soooo an NKOTB-er between the ages of nine and ten. Yup, that is what I called myself. They are the pop equivalent of a black velvet painting, and they’re probably more like Old Men In The Suburbs by now, but they are Pop pioneers. Good God man, I played their cassette - that’s right, cassette - until it started to sound like an old news reel. I went so far as to buy a video of a behind-the-scenes look at the band. I would give my left pinky toe to still have that video, but my stupid, skanky friend (yes, even at ten) ‘borrowed’ it and never gave it back. She definitely didn’t have the ‘right stuff’. Zing!

Phew, what a bombshell. I got to wind down with some not-so-surprising news. Like Pete Doherty not showing up at his solo gig. These next headlines have less to do with music and more to do with the public’s hunger for sensational stories. You’ll be shocked to learn that Amy Winehouse is on drugs, people. A day doesn’t go by that we’re not given some supposedly new insight into the drama that is Amy’s and Britney’s life by the ‘press’. I’m not claiming the paparazzi made them turn to mind altering substances, but it doesn’t help. This latest tidbit prompted more informative debates about the wickedness of crack and such. Oh, and of course there’s the news that Suge Knight was named a member of a notorious Compton gang by the police. Again, shocker. He has been associated with that same gang ever since I can remember, but apparently now it’s news. I don’t think some people understand what the word news means. Pete Doherty showing up for a gig, Amy Winehouse sober, Suge Knight, beloved member of the boyscouts, now that’s news!

While Suge Knight accuses the police of using his name for publicity, The Enemy pull a similar stunt by calling the Arctic Monkeys dull. Do you really have to pull a Gallagher and slag off other bands to stay in the news? How is this in any way productive? They only upped the pressure on their following releases. They better be flippin’ brilliant, because todays XFM/NME darlings are tomorrows fodder for future up-and-coming bands to call dull.

Moving on to more surprising things. UB40’s lead singer is quitting the band. Ehm, did everybody know that they were still together??

Ah, a week doesn’t go by without me peeing myself over some free mp3s. This time the providers of the delicious swag are The Charlatans, who plan to give away their CD next month, and One Little Indian, label of Dan Sartain, Jesse Malin and Asobi Seksu among others has a free CD featuring their artists on eMusic.

NME reports that Busta Rhymes escaped prison. No, not in a daredeviling Michael Scofield kinda prison break; he got away with a fine and community service for assaulting his driver and a fan. Foxy Brown didn’t have as much luck when her petition for early release was denied.

Oh for crap’s sake. How many times do you think a person should be allowed to nickname themselves?!? I thought that once was enough, ok maybe twice, because when you’re bald and named Curly it’s kinda funny, but when your hair grows back and it’s straight it’s just weird. In those rare cases it’s OK to change your name again, but P.Diddy takes the cake. He went from Puff Daddy, to P.Diddy, to Diddy, and now he wants the world to call him Sean John. Come on, pick one and stick with it, man. I’ve had it, I’m just gonna call him Hey-Diddle-Diddle from now one. So there.

   New Kids On The Block - You Got It (The Right Stuff)

Jumping right in to our overview of things that may or may not be considered news, this morning brought us the announcement of this year’s Bafta nominations. Definitely the best news I’ve seen all week is that Control has been nominated for Best British Film, and Samantha Morton for Supporting Actress. I honestly can’t see why she should be nominated and Sam Riley not for his extraordinary performance (though Ms. Morton is quite good herself), but at least he’s been listed for the Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public, which means us, so get your votes in). I could treat you to a massive rant about how certain types of actors and movies get ignored by awards, but it’s not like you don’t know and this isn’t really the place (maybe someday, though, if you’re really lucky). In any case, I’d hoped that the Baftas would actually acknowledge Control since it’s British and they’re usually more open than their US cousins so, even with the Sam Riley snub, I’m pretty pleased.

In rather different news, Michael Jackson has yet again found a way to alienate the few fans he has left and, even worse, those of us who still at least consider him a former musical genius. It seems Thriller will be getting a reworking - starting with “The Girl Is Mine”. Not only that, he’ll be ruining what could’ve just stayed a track off of a classic album by including Will.I.Am. This is just wrong and horrible and here’s why: 1. There are thousands, bazillions maybe, of blogs out there showcasing new, exciting, innovative artists so it must be out there to enjoy. Why, oh, why must everybody keep digging in the attic for old stuff to replace new stuff with? Pretty soon, current music will just be a shadow of our glorious music history, a crap-heap of former classics that have been remixed, re-recorded, and reunited and nobody will give a tiny rat’s ass about any of it anymore. Why do the Powers That Decide This Dumbass Crap not understand this? And 2. If you’re an artist trying to pretend you might still be any good, don’t do it by showing us what you used to do well (yeah, I’m talking to you, too, Paul McCartney) and, for god’s sake, don’t do it by including a Black Eyed Pea. Seriously.

And you just can’t get away from it: the planned re-creation of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison concert was cancelled earlier this month. Thank god.

While I take a second to calm down, have a look at this fantastic post from Lefsetz Letter (thanks to No Rock And Roll Fun for pointing it out) about how, while record sales may be declining, it’s not in the way that the big labels want you to think. Best sellers are selling less than they used to, but people still want to buy music. As Lefsetz Letter writes, “People still want music. In prodigious amounts. They just don’t all want the same thing.” Funny isn’t it - I could swear music fans have been saying this for years, ever since the start of all this ‘downloads are killing the music industry’ nonsense started, but I must’ve imagined it. Good thing these new numbers say it for us. This is seriously fascinating stuff, and a great analysis of it, go read more at the link above.

And since the rest of this week’s ‘news’ is just utterly ridiculous (Amy Winehouse’s new hair, Britney’s never-ending antics, rappers on steroids), I’ll just leave you with this song, to remind you of the good times we had back at the beginning of this post, before I got all irritated by stupidity and stuff.

   Joy Division - Interzone

After a relaxing post-Christmas hiatus, 100b is back in action. This is my first News-ish Roundup so I’m a little nervous. I often feel like I have no idea what’s going on in the world of music. On the whole, I just bumble into stuff I like or that’s new and exciting. So, when I’m asked to provide psuedo-news y’all should be a little worried. However, I’m willing to give it a go if you are.

All those year-end best and worst lists are a great way for those of us - by us, I mean me - with our heads up our asses to catch up on the past year, streaking past all the fluff and garbage to get to the oh-so-delicious center of the Tootsie Pop. Anyway, when I realized a few days ago that I was due up to bat for the New-ish Roundup, I scrambled to get some information together. Unfortunately, as the blog-savvy already know, this was a bad week or so to accumulate items from my RSS feed aggregator. I don’t have any scientific evidence to back this up, but post frequency definitely feels like it drops between December 24 and December 31. So much so, I thought my aggregator was broken or had just given up after so little use.

After fans - and anyone that just wants to cop shit for free - have had two months or so to download their latest album online for a few shekels or a potato, Radiohead’s In Rainbows is hitting shops this week. I suspect some music industry executives are actually praying for it to sell exactly 23 copies worldwide in order to justify their worse digital download prognostications and views of the music-buying public. Make Radiohead proud people!

Idolator announced its 2007 winner of the Worst Album Cover: Eagle Records for Ted Nugent’s Love Grenade. Look, Bill, it’s a grenade! In her mouth! Like she’s a pork roast! Ha ha ha! (If you head over to Idolator, check out their own Year-End Top 40 List Of Awesomeness. Warning: It’s heavy on the American side of awesome.)

Stereogum combined forces with bootlegger team9 to produce a Year In Singles mashup, heavy on the indie. Band Of Horses vs. Guns N’ Rose vs. 2 Live Crew. M.I.A. vs. The A-Team Theme. Arcade Fire vs. Smokey Robinson vs. The Gunsmoke Theme. How can you not want this stuff? It’s fully downloadable per track or all of them together. Get it before it goes away!

Did his *cough* retirement from hip-hop finally get in the way? On December 24 Jay-Z announced he’ll be departing as the President of Def Jam at the end of his contract. Based on the article over at Billboard, one reads all the trademarks of a shove out the door. He may be a hip-hopreneur, but sounds like too many fingers in too pies finally made L.A. Reid realize it could be a good idea to have an actual president of the company. But, what the hell do I know? Maybe Def Jam got what it wanted the past few years and Jay-Z really does just want to pursue other opportunities to make some cash-money-money-money.

Ice Cube still throws it down as an O.G. Exhibit #1: “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” …

Seriously, people chill the fuck out. Will Smith is not a Nazi and isn’t a Nazi apologist. Damn. Sometimes people just start popping off the minute a celebrity says anything without even considering what the person actually said. Bol over at XXL gives the story some typically funny coverage.

Personally, my sonic isolation abilities are crap, so I probably can’t hear the difference. But, if you have the time, Rolling Stone published a long feature on “The Death Of High Fidelity”
by Robert Levine.

Here’s a factoid: According to a story from the New York Times, Apple users are around three times more likely to have paid for a music download in the last financial quarter.

And, for those of you that just come for the free stuff or as a treat for the regulars for bearing with my New-ish Roundup, here’s a track from the debut album by Grande, Uppers, Downers, Screamers & Howlers …

   Grande - Rhythms Of Sin

I totally spaced out and walked around thinking it was Tuesday ALL day yesterday. That happens a lot lately, I wonder if I should worry. So I’m late and very sorry, but let’s finally have a look at some of the headlines that kept the world’s tongues a-waggin’ the last few days:

- Tuesday morning, Ike Turner passed away at the age of 76. The soul legend is known for his troubled past, but will be remembered for his musical legacy.

- Eddie Vedder teams up with John Legend to work on the soundtrack of the Howard Zinn documentary The People Speak.

- The Cure donated an autographed guitar with a special message to be auctioned off, to help fund the West Memphis Three’s cause. The auction started Monday and ends on the 24th. For more information check out the comment under aDawgg’s West Memphis Three Awareness Day post. What a wonderful gesture, I hope it’ll make a great bundle of money. God bless us, everyone.

- The White Stripes might never tour again? Oh good Lord, say it ain’t so!!!

- I never really understood why you would want Britney’s old chewed up gum or Mariah’s half eaten sandwich or Elvis’ sweat in a jar, but one happy fan got off the phone with Gorringes Auction House the lucky winner of a lock of John Lennon’s hair which set him/her back a measly 48 thousand dollars.

- Sons And Daughters are coming back with a tour and a new single next year. Huzzah!

- Art Brut merges with Blackbox Recorder to become The Black Arts and release a Christmas single called “Christmas Number One”, while Sir Cliff tells the world that he won’t be making anymore Christmas songs. So great news all around!

- Time for some stuff I don’t give a crap about: Pete Wentz is all bitter and whiney like a wee girl over the ‘Grammy snub’. Britney is considering a role as the Virgin Mary in some movie. Hm, Britney Spears pretending to be a virgin? What a stretch.

- YAY for all things gratis! Okkervil River give us a free download album filled with cover songs. You can get it over on Pitchfork, because the massive downloading frenzy crashed their web server.

- Some new releases set for 2008: Big Boi is planning on releasing a solo album. The Kooks plan a Spring release for their new album Konks. Foals announce their album and track titles. Morrissey reveals he is to release a new single as well as a new fifteen track greatest hits album in February next year.

- And the weirdest news this week, if not ever: Sufjan Stevens might pose for French Playboy. Only time will tell whether this is a joke or not, but keep your eyes peeled for Le Playboy of coming February. Though seeing as how he’s a man and all, wouldn’t he be in Playgirl? … Or will this story take an even juicier turn with a gender-bending revelation coming from the ’supposed’ man? I should probably stop, this is how vicious rumors start. All I know is, I hope we do get us some X-rated pictures, because whenever I see that picture of him in the dad-shirt and the suspenders, my mind inevitably turns Dirrty. Sufjan? More like Sufyum-my! On that lame and disturbing note, we end our bi-monthly News-ish Roundup with a song from the Indie Adonis himself.

   Sufjan Stevens - A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Update following Drowned In Sound’s update: This just in, Sufjan will sadly not expose himself in French Playboy. Or any Playboy. It was all a big fat tease. And the sound of a million indie girl hearts breaking can be heard all around the world. I’m sad.

We’ve decided that it’s time to let go of Soundtrack Day. It was a good little post and it served us well, but we’re ready to move on. We’re going to let in a little news in its place. So, from now on, we’ll be bringing you 100b’s News-ish Roundup every other week. Our Roundup may or may not always contain music news - heck, it may not even be considered real news! - but it will be here. So let’s get things started and have a look at what’s going on out in that great big world of ours …

In recording news, both the recently re-formed Jesus & Mary Chain and The Long Blondes have announced plans for new albums. This is what we like to hear.

Less so is news that Bonde Do Role are canceling shows due to “internal problems”. That sounds bad. I don’t even have anything smart-assy to say about this - Bonde Do Role are too great a band to fall apart. I hope they get it all sorted out.

The Jackson 5 are planning their comeback tour, which absolutely no one will go see. Meanwhile, Ian Brown has sworn never to be part of a Stone Roses reunion. I’m personally not sure why we need all these reunioned bands all over the place anyway - the music world is slowly becoming one of those historical living museums - but if it has to be, doesn’t it seem like those two stories should be switched around?

Nine Inch Nails have launched their Remix site. Only a week ago, Universal refused to be part of the plan, fearing (rightly so) they would be seen as big fat hypocrites for allowing illegal (ahem, unauthorized) samples while suing people for using illegal samples. It seems Trent Reznor has gone and and done it anyway, leaving himself legally responsible. I triple-dog dare anyone to fight Reznor on this - go on, I want to watch him rip you apart with his bare hands.

Interpol released their “Interpol Live” EP yesterday, the band’s first official live recording. It’s just a little ironic that they chose a show recorded at the London Astoria to be released exclusively in the States - thus forcing fans who actually attended that show to either pay outrageous shipping fees or illegally download something they themselves participated in.

And finally, today’s NME will re-ignite the old beef between the magazine and Morrissey. Although they’d managed to call a truce after over a decade, NME just couldn’t let this last interview slide, apparently. This ought to be amusing and pretty idiotic to follow. By my count, NME starts with -10 cleverness points for using the painfully obvious “Bigmouth Strikes Again” on the cover.

   The Smiths - That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore