Obviously a major contender for Pitchfork’s top 20 jams tomorrow, don’t even front. Also, high-five to Taylor for 1) co-opting that horrific Avril video concept and making it resonate, and 2) The retro opening sequence where she writes notes to her crush from her window instead of, you know, texting (sexting? texting. T’s classy.).
Photo by David Greenwald
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Way funnier than “Wilco The Song,” is Ryan Adam’s new (metal!) song, “The Awl, The Song (Hair Metal Version),” in which he turns his amps to 11 and lets loose his best Axl Rose. It’s the theme song for the Web site of the same name, for which Ryan, burgeoning journo that he is, will soon be penning a column — er, sorry, not Ryan, but a “popular recording artist.” (It’s Ryan.) (P.S. guy, where’s the box set?!) [Via Vulture]
Ryan Adams – “The Awl, The Song (Hair Metal Version)”: link
Making this list in August seems li’l premature (“Too soon! Reconsider!” — Andre 3000), but Pitchfork has a decade of critical domination to put a definitive stamp on before Rolling Stone does, so they’re off and running with their top 500 yesterday. But what’ll be No. 1? Thinking about it, the choices seem pretty obvious:
1) It won’t be an indie rock song, at least not one with guitars. God forbid!
2) It won’t be a song from 2000-2004 because they already made that list, and correctly topped it with “Hey Ya” and “B.O.B.” which won’t be that high twice.
3) That leaves us with hip-hop/dance/pop songs that were both a) possible radio jams but b) hipster friendly. Thus, my best guesses: Read the rest of this entry »
Photo via Dead Air Space
So, to recap:
* Last week, a new Radiohead song, “These Are My Twisted Words,” leaked out of nowhere. As a rabid Radiohead fan, I can say it’s the first time anything has leaked from the band since Hail To The Thief in 2003.
* Said track came with an accompanying file that seemed to indicate an EP entitled Wall of Ice would be out on Monday, Aug. 17. (Ahem: Today.)
* On the commercial end, the band has a brand-new online download store they are presumably trying to get attention for. To that end, they released a charity single, “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)” in the last few weeks. An EP would be a bigger publicity push.
* Someone — not Radiohead — registered Wallofice.com and pointed it to Radiohead’s new download store.
Now:
* Wall of Ice did not come out last night/this morning. Instead, Radiohead released “These Are My Twisted Words” for free (awesome) on their blog. It is the identical file that leaked. There is no mention of Wall Of Ice on the band’s blog, despite their obvious Internet savvy.
* Whoever owns WallofIce.com is a sanctimonious prick who has the balls to write “Don’t just publish bullshit only to get hits on your webpage. Don’t just create your own stories after reading one post on a message board,” after deliberately registering a Web site to fuel the fire of this hoax. Fuck you, dude.
WTF:
* It seems that the band probably leaked the song themselves. But, uh, why? Just to fuck with fans? Wall of Ice didn’t generate the massive interest that In Rainbows did — only a few of us (myself included) were freaking out on Twitter last night. And why would somebody buy the domain — just to be a dick?
Anyway:
* New Radiohead!
Radiohead – “These Are My Twisted Words”: mp3
Assuming the extremely dubious new Radiohead EP drops tomorrow, it should be coming momentarily – In Rainbows arrived around 10 p.m. PST in 2007, if that’s any indication. Let’s chat in this thread and/or on Twitter with #wallofice until we get sleepy and succumb to inevitable disappointment. (Update: Did some detective work and if this thing exists, it would probably be at this address: http://www.waste.uk.com/Store/waste-radiohead-did-35-10064-wall+of+ice+digital.html. This points to a jacket. 10065 doesn’t exist. Off to bed. NICE HOAX (!??!?), JERKS.)
No ifs, ands, or buts about it — that song that mysteriously leaked onto the Internet this week with those Johnny Greenwood-sounding guitars, those Phil Selway-sounding drums and that Thom Yorke-sounding singing couldn’t be by anyone other than Radiohead. We’ve all got ears, right? The real question is what the hell “These Are My Twisted Words” is. A loping, lengthy track that sounds tremendous and hands Death Cab’s “I Will Possess Your Heart” a masterclass on how to play a damn intro, it does seem a tad unfinished. Could it be a leaked demo from the band’s recent studio sessions? Read the rest of this entry »
Photo by David Greenwald
Division Day has a long history on this blog — the band was one of my first concert reviews here, back in 2005 — and I was extremely pleased to write about them in LA Weekly this week. As previously blogged here, the band’s sophomore record, Visitation, is due on Aug. 18. It’s the product of two weeks of recording and a year of demos that found the band going into what singer Rohner Segnitz called “hibernation” — away from the Silver Lake scene, away from (g)lo-fi trends. The new disc, a simultaneously more aggressive, more patient release than 2006′s synth-tinged Beartrap Island, certainly finds the quartet going their own way — and, I think you’ll agree, awesomely so.
Division Day – “Chalk Lines”: mp3
(Visitation is due Aug. 18 on Dangerbird)
More: Division Day | New Music
