So, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes fame has a blog. (Did that sound professional?) Anyway, as I said, Travie has a blog, and its chock full of pictures of his adventures with stupid/funny blurbs, videos about god knows what, and the meaning of life, or not! But, that’s not the important part. Travie also has this little side project going on with Nick Scimeca called Tequila Mockingbird, and he posted a song for your listening pleasure on this blog of his.
The song is called “Brooklyn Basement”, and Travis says, “it came from living in louis logic’s basement in bushwick, it was soooooo cozy and soooooooo depressing, kind of like this song”. I don’t really find it that depressing, but I do love how near the end, the smooth, sort of electro R&B beat gets turned into this trashy, electro, garage beat, and just as soon as it came, it was transformed back to the slow R&B, fuck-me beat. If this song is any representation of what the EP will be like, I’m so there!
Also on the blog is a remix 5G did of the Gym Class Heroes song “Biters Block”. I couldn’t tell you who 5G is, but the remix is boss. Apparently, they remixed the entire As Cruel As School Children album with a bunch of Daryl Hall and John Oates songs, which is pretty awesome. I assume this will be coming out sooner or later because Travis said they were already finished with this little project. I hope that means sooner!
If you want to experience the radness of Travie’s blog for yourself, go to www.traviesblog.com.
Ashlee Simpson’s new music video for “Outta My Head” came out yesterday, and I have to say. I sort of like it! I’m not saying the song is fabulous by any stretch of the imagination (it kind of makes me want to jazzercise), though I do have a sneaking suspicion it is the type of song that’ll grow on you, and before you know it you’re singing “outta my, outta my head…” Anyway, the song is debatable, but the music video is fun especially considering Ashlee’s obvious Rubix Cube lap dancing talents, and who ever styled the video is amazing.
Let’s face it, the stylist who has the balls to put Ashlee in a black and clear striped Gareth Pugh dress, without caring what all Ash’s tween fans or Papa Joe will think, gets and A+ from me. Sure they put something under it to cover her bits and pieces a little, but it’s definitely the same dress. And, if Ashlee picked that outfit herself, more props to her!
Just what the video, then rant later!
~ Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains
~ Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
~ Various Artists - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [Soundtrack]
~ Chingy - Hate It or Love It
~ 3 Doors Down - Citizen Soldier [Digital Single]
~ Jaheim - The Makings of a Man
~ The Morning Of - Digital EP
~ The Lives of Famous Men - Modern Love, the Wooden Vehicle
~ Gasoline Heart - What Now
~ The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Medium Rare
Yet again, its a slow week for new albums, so no new releases post this week, but the Grammys are around the corner! The nominees came out a little while ago and included a lot of Amy Winehouse and Kanye West, some Foo Fighters, Justin Timberlake, Rhianna, and even Paramore and Plain White T’s (see the entire list here), but that isn’t what has been intriguing. The interesting part is the rumblings from other musicians about the importance of the Grammys, or lack there of.
In the Nine Inch Nails blog, Trent Reznor, who is obviously on the outs with the record industry and loving it, wrote: “While the music industry is doing everything they possibly can to go out of business, can we all make sure to rid ourselves of the Grammys, too? Out of touch old men jacking each other off.” Is this just the rantings of an unfortunate snubbed artist, or the truth? I’ve read things from other artists who feel the same, and personally I have always felt the Grammys rarely hit the nail on the head (no pun intended) when it comes to popular music.
Its as if whoever chooses the nominees are afraid to take risks, so they stick to the safe bets, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen, not that there’s anything wrong with any of these artists. They may be the best, but why not shake things up with a little NIN or even The Hives?
Do you think the people who chose the Grammy nominees hit the know their stuff, or are they “out of touch old men jacking each other off”?
I knew it would happen. As soon as I heard about the mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska, I knew the giant finger of blame would be pointed at emo music. The only thing is, I figured they’d start pointing it at bands like My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy because they are technically mainstream names. I thought they’d make it easy to put a face to the name, not pick someone the general public might have to google. I definitely never thought the blame would be placed on one, Conor Oberst, lead singer of Bright Eyes, but Radar magazine is pointing their finger at droopy-eyed Oberst, who also happens to be from Omaha and has dubbed him the Monster of the Week!
I’m sort of outraged, as was I when they dubbed Marylin Manson the inspiration behind Columbine. The writer of the piece, Tyler Gray, is putting words in a dead boys mouth, as harsh as that may sound. No one knows what Robert Hawkins was thinking, and he’s not around to tell, so why drag yet another musician’s name through the mud? Apparently writing lyrics like: “Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe / There’s people always dying trying to keep them alive / There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight / In an abandoned building,” is enough to make someone culpable.
Whether this was all in jest or not, mass media works in this funny way where they all grasp onto one idea and run with it. You have no idea how many news segments on “The Dangers of Emo” I’ve seen in the last 5 months. Let’s just be honest, teen angst is the most over-rated thing ever, and 90% of the angst in “emo” music isn’t coming from teens in the first place. It’s all made up, get over it!
Should we start playing the musician-blame-game once again?
