Music

John Baizley of @YourBaroness tells the incredible story of surviving a near-fatal bus crash. Stirring stuff. baronessmusic.com/update-from-ba…

Listening to Bleach and Nevermind back-to-back makes one appreciate the hell out of Dave Grohl and Butch Vig.

You should watch this magnificent Joey Ramone video directed by Greg Jardin: youtube.com/watch?v=2Whlcw…

Amanda Palmer was (rightly) pilloried for crowd sourcing free musicians. Bon Iver’s tattoo “contest” deserves the same. feedproxy.google.com/~r/Pitchfork…

That very specific sort of jokey pop culture band name: Com Truise, Ringo Deathstarr, The Cast of Cheers, etc. Everyone stop that, please.

Watch out, world. @larrylegend is on his way to becoming your next punk rock messiah. (@ Bark Hot Dogs) 4sq.com/P7p0Pc

20+ years later, I still expect “Blitzkrieg” to follow “Whiplash”, as it did on my cassette copy of the ’88 Elektra reissue of Kill ’Em All.

I hope this means we can look forward to a 25th anniversary edition of Weird Al Yankovic’s Even Worse next year.

“I’m on your case, I’m in your face, kick you and your father back in place. Step off, sucker, understand? Don’t you know? I’m the man.”

The transition between “Back Where I Belong” and “Sea Lungs” sounds kind of like a dystopian sci-fi re-imagining of Van Halen’s “1984.”

It is a very, very good thing no one can hear the lyrics I invent and sing to myself when I’m alone.

For a 6:30 p.m. show with five bands on the bill and no food for sale, you might want to reconsider your “NO RE-ENTRY” policy.

Thrill Jockey anniversary show last night was the most eclectic I’ve seen in ages. I loved Future Islands fans being made to endure Liturgy.

While I’m still probably not going to be a fan, holy crap does that Future Islands singer guy own the stage.

Dear Frances Bean Cobain,

First of all, it was lovely having lunch with you, even if you did get a bit confrontational at the end there. I’m glad I woke up before I could rebut, because a cooler head has shown me that your assessment of my taste in music, if incomplete, was remarkably astute. Dark themes, deceptively simple songwriting, played loosely but with discipline. You kind of nailed it. And even if you didn’t,… See more →

Until I get details proving the contrary, I am regarding the new iTunes as a serious threat to my way of life. This is not a joke.

I have long been skeptical of music subscription services like Spotify and Rdio. What serious music fan would pay a monthly fee to have a remote, fallible gatekeeper between himself and a woefully incomplete music catalog? To forsake my personal collection in favor of that system would be like dumping a lifetime’s worth of home equity to move into a rental apartment in a gated community. That’s what people do when they’re getting ready to… See more →

Wondering if @TheJasonNewsted has played @RockBandBlitz yet. He could hear his bass on …And Justice for All songs for the first time.

My @Rdio playlist with selections from each of the albums on my Pitchfork People’s List (Top 20 Albums 1996–2011): rd.io/x/QFyuL1HKMw

The only thing keeping this from being another uninspired, cloyingly sentimental throwback synthpop record is the over-the-top vocal theatricality. The borderline ridiculous vocals lend it a peculiar honesty that makes it a more engaging listen, but it is otherwise so reliant on its well-worn retro template that I’m not sure I’ll be back to listen again.

So, um, the new Swans album is ridiculously fucking great.

Laying it down with @larrylegend. (Not pictured: @jasonhawkins.) instagr.am/p/O5ebVYBMZY/

Last month, I expressed some concerns about remix culture and the questionable value of much of its output. Shortly thereafter, as if in response, the juggernaut of skewed pop music known as Beck revealed that his next album, Song Reader, will be released exclusively as sheet music.

The songs here are as unfailingly exciting as you’d expect from their author, but if you want to hear “Do We? We Do,” or “Don’t Act Like Your Heart… See more →

My belated first stab at writing tab.

Tonight, my glasses spent about twenty seconds on the floor of a crowded and rowdy Bowery Ballroom. Then they were returned to me, unharmed.

Longboard ready for the road. Quicksand show tonight. Today is Stuff I Didn’t Get Around to Doing in the ’90s Day.

No one at this press conference is good at their job. nytimes.com/2012/08/23/nyregi…

Not one surprise in the aggregated People’s List on Pitchfork. Snoozerrific. pitchfork.com/peopleslist/

Of the nineteen artists in my People’s List, can you guess which five I haven’t seen live? peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/8f867850/

Just finished season two of Treme. If anyone needs me, I’ll be playing music for the rest of the day.

Terrible news about @YourBaroness’s bus crash in the UK. Sounds like everyone’s banged up but will be okay. I hope so. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

In honor of the twentieth anniversary of my first concert, here is an approximate recreation of it. rd.io/x/QFyuL1J0RQ

Finished my People’s List (Top Albums 1996–2011) for Pitchfork. As it turns out, my list is very caucasian. peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/8f867850/

Scowling crust punk girl who just walked past the line for the Wussy show: “Is Cher playing tonight?”

Eighteen years later, I just realized Link Wray’s “Rumble” was left off the Pulp Fiction soundtrack album, making it woefully incomplete.

Free shows with a supply/demand dynamic that makes you camp in front of a venue for hours are only free for people whose time is valueless.

I. Have. Quicksand. Tickets.

I can appreciate doing a cover that’s a nod to your roots, but compared to the original Buzzcocks version, this is really limp. If they had to do it, it would have made a better B-side than an album closer.

Wanted to port my old song reviews from iLike to @Rdio, but the former is gone and took my stuff with it. Sigh: contentsmagazine.com/data/

After trying it today, I am baffled by the number of people who listen to music with earbuds on the subway. You can’t hear shit.

This is such a great, soulful performance of a beautifully devastating song, and then the idiotic audience deflates the whole thing by clapping along like trained monkeys.

The “Daughters of Triton” cutoff haunts me. How would Ariel have continued the song? Get on it, fan fictioners.

Ours is an age of cultural cannibalism. We have rather suddenly gained very convenient access to nearly the whole of human history’s significant creative output, and we are remixing it with careless abandon. We have introduced The Beatles to Jay-Z, Jane Austen to George Romero, and Abraham Lincoln to Bram Stoker. If something gets a modicum of attention online, it can count on being Photoshopped, captioned, auto-tuned, GIF’ed, pickled, bronzed, or arranged for ukulele and… See more →

How cool would it have been if Refused’s “Fallon” performance incorporated The Roots? Still, they were great, as usual. feedproxy.google.com/~r/Pitchfork…

Thought about getting tickets to one of Jay-Z’s inaugural Barclays Center concerts. All eight shows sold out instantly.

So who wants to go with me to see Def Leppard at Jones Beach tomorrow night? (Poison and Lita Ford are also playing, if that helps.)

Tonight’s edition of Summertime Brooklyn Decision Fatigue: free movie in the park (To Kill a Mockingbird) or free punk show (7 Seconds)?