The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips will be hitting the road together for a short tour across the U.S. and Brazil this spring Individually, The Black Keys will include Argentina on their trek, while The Flaming Lips will head to Europe in late May.
You can find a full list of tour dates for each band after the jump, and don’t forget to enter our weekly #FreeTicketFriday contest for your shot at a free pair of tickets!
Continue reading ‘The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips Announce Tour’
What do you listen to when the hour is late, the lights are low and careening power chords and wailing vocals just don’t suit the mood? Everybody’s got their own answer to that question, but those who dwell in the rarefied dominion of record geekdom are especially attuned to what makes a good after-hours mix, priding themselves on concocting the perfect combination of tracks to watch the wee hours drift by. That’s the idea behind the British Late Night Tales series, which brings in a different celebrity guest to curate each volume. In the past, LNT has tapped the talents of The Flaming Lips, Snow Patrol, Midlake, Arctic Monkeys, Fatboy Slim and many more, from varied stylistic sectors. Six years ago, indie-pop giants Belle and Sebastian were added to that list, and now they’ve got the rare honor of returning for a second round, delivering the latest Late Night Tales mix. To find out how the whole thing came together, let’s lend an ear to Belle and Sebastian keyboard man Chris Geddes, who was actually the main overseer of the collection. Continue reading ‘Riffs, Rants and Rumors: Listening In On Belle and Sebastian’s Late Night Tales’
Ever wonder what that song is about? Here’s what these songs are about:
“Cry Me A River” – Justin Timberlake
The video Justin Timberlake made for his solo hit, featuring a familiar-looking blonde and a glimpse of a photo in an errant frame, did nothing to dispel theories that this track was about Britney Spears’ cheating ways. Goddam you, Britney, how could you?!
Continue reading ‘The EditoriaList: Ten Interesting Backstories To Pop Songs’
Our wonderful Managing Editor Alison is dangerously obsessed with violence and, I hear, is actually in an underground fight club, though she doesn’t talk about that. One day she suggested to me that I do a list based on fight scenes in music videos. It was hard to understand her at first, since her jaw was mysteriously wired shut, but we eventually got on the same page. Let’s start with a pair of pop divas who have a history of working out their problems in public:
8. “Heartbreaker” by Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey beating the hell out of herself is just about the best thing that can happen in a Mariah Carey video, so there you go. Bonus: The song stops during the crucial scene. I also like it when her boyfriend overhears his brother talking to his hoodlum friends about finding that body down by the tracks.
Continue reading ‘The EditoriaList: Top Eight Music Video Fight Scenes’
Every summer music fans across the world flock to outdoor concerts and festivals to enjoy fresh air and good tunes. This summer, however, the fun has been tinged with tragedy due to a number of outdoor stages collapsing from strong winds and severe weather conditions. First, the stage of the Ottawa Bluesfest collapsed while rock band Cheap Trick was performing. Earlier this month, the Flaming Lips’ stage collapsed before they were scheduled to take the stage in Oklahoma. Luckily, no one was seriously injured in either of these accidents.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the two most recent tragedies last week. The stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair right before country group Sugarland were set to take the stage. Six people have been reported dead from the accident. Just days later, the stage at the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium collapsed, which resulted in four deaths with seventy-five additional people injured. Indie rockers Smith Westerns were performing on the stage moments before it collapsed, and they offer their perspective on what happened in an interview below.
Continue reading ‘The Mystery of Collapsing Stages and What It Means For the Future’
You’re sitting there, enjoying Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, when all of a sudden Gore Vidal appears on screen to discuss the political implications of Bieber’s evolving hairstyle. OK, that didn’t happen, but the following actual rock doc commentators are just as jarringly inappropriate:
7. Stones in Exile
Will.i.am, Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair
I don’t even want to hear what Will.i.am thinks about The Black Eyed Peas, never mind what he has to say about The Rolling Stones’ masterpiece Exile on Main Street. Sheryl Crow shows up to tell us how much musicians revere the album. Was there literally no one else available? Due respect to Sheryl Crow, but her music doesn’t exactly evoke the gritty swinging awesomeness of Exile. And finally, Liz Phair seems to be included strictly by virtue of the reference in the title of her first LP, Exile in Guyville.
6. The Flaming Lips: The Fearless Freaks
Adam Goldberg, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis
Unless they have some direct connection with the artists, I can’t get down with listening to actors talk about being a fan. Yeah, I’m a fan, too, that’s why I’m watching this. What possible insight are you providing me? What’s that you say? Yes, I know, I feel the same way. We’re both fans, you see. Wait, did you produce their last record? Oh, me neither. I think these three actors are all great, but what are the chances that the (at the time) romantically-linked Goldberg and Ricci each have something independently valuable to add to my understanding or appreciation of The Flaming Lips?
Continue reading ‘The EditoriaList: Top Seven Senseless Appearances In Rock Documentaries’
“Lifestyles of the rich and the famous/ they’re always complaining, always complaining/ If money is such a problem/ well they got mansions/ think we should rob them.” – Joel Madden, singer, poet.
Oh Good Charlotte, wise beyond their years. What other band could so brilliantly lampoon the extravagance of popular music stars, satirizing it while subtly nodding to the allure of money, at once deriding lust for material things and acknowledging the avarice in all men.
A true poet.
One can wax poetic on the evils of money until the cows come home. It’s the root of all evil, greed is a deadly sin, it can’t buy you happiness, blah blah blah. Alright sure, money can’t buy you happiness, but you know what it can buy you? A bitchin’ new house! Hey, knock money all you want, but if you get a little bit of green then you can finance yourself a sweet little pad. That must be the thought-process behind the housing decisions that rock stars make. And who can blame them? You’re young (or young-at-heart), successful with a regular infusion of cash and you probably fancy yourself the creative type. Why not have a sweet house that reflects all that about you and more? Let’s take a look at some sweet rock star domiciles.
Eric Clapton
We can’t profile all of the famous rock guitarist’s homes, but one of them stands out not only for it’s opulence but also for it’s relative availability for the (fabulously wealthy) average Joe looking to rent a tropical getaway. Standfast Point in Antigua is less a house or mansion and more of a compound: a 14,000 square foot four building complex sitting atop seaside cliffs looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. With space for your family in the main house, separate accommodations for your guests, onsite staff and two pools on the property, the property truly does have it all—and it can be yours for the going rate of $50,000 a week. But can you really put a price on living in the lap of luxury in a house that could easily pass for a Bond villain hideout? You can learn more about the villa here.
Fat Mike (NOFX)
Frontman of long-running punk band NOFX Fat Mike wears many hats. As a performer in his group, he sings and plays bass. Day to day, he helps run Fat Wreck Chords, the seminal punk label that he founded along with his wife in 1990. And now Mike can add real estate mogul to his lengthy resume. Fat Mike has begun to rent out a house in Las Vegas known as the Vegas Punk House and Paltry Museum. Now, you probably won’t see Fat Mike there, but his influence is all over the place. The living room is plastered with posters from classic punk shows of yore and the house features a number of amenities that will please the man-child in all of us. In addition to a salt water pool, the backyard also features a nine-hole mini golf course and a water slide. And you bring all your friends since the Punk House has bed space for ten people and is only four miles removed from the Vegas Strip. You can take a tour of the place with Fat Mike himself in the clip below.
Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips)
Coyne, weirdo shaman frontman of psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips, needs a pad worthy of his outsized gonzo persona. And he does—his house is so weird it’s even something of a celebrity in it’s own right. “Wayne Coyne house” is the third hit that comes up when you begin to search for the rock star online. The most notable story about the humble abode is when the Internet freaked out after spotting Coyne’s house in Google Maps street view. How could they tell it was Coyne’s house, you might ask. Well, let’s take a look at the evidence.
Yep, that's Wayne Coyne in a bathtub on his front yard in Google Street View. It's art, people.
So, we’ve seen the outside of his house, but what about the inside? Well, it’s a home worthy of Coyne’s grand weirdness and it’s pretty damn cool. Coyne and his wife worked closely in collaboration with Oklahoma City-based architecture firm Fitzsimmons Architects in order to transform the suburban home into something very unique. Also notable is the location Coyne chose for his home; in the middle of the same neighborhood that he grew up in. Coyne wanted to show his support for the community by placing his new home there. What a class act!
