Very Close to, if not actually in, the CD player:
seen/heard ° listen ° buy
Wham Zap Kaboom
The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores - Batman (mp3)
Two guys from Toronto jump into the wet hole left by the late, lamented DFA1979. In the live videos featured on The OBGMz' myspace, the duo can sound more anemic than dynamic (dump the guitar, pick up the bass (or at least a bass pickup)). But their Interchorus EP (offered as a free download) does a pretty good job matching that other band's fuzz and thrash. "Batman" might substitute horror for menace, but songs like "Step on Emo Kids" ("I'm so sad that nobody likes me...") and "You Got a Boyfriend" ("You got a boyfriend? So the fuck what? You got a husband? Dump him.") bring a combination of obnoxious and sexy that's easier than kindness but harder than clever.
"Batman" was also featured, along with Saul Williams and Earl Greyhound and others, on the free Afro-Punk compilation Fuck Rock Stars.
Batman & Robin - I Feel Pretty Good While Smashing Other People! (mp3)(buy the I'm a Bat! I'm a Rock and Roll Animal! 7")
Trademark-infringing garage punk psychotherapy session from a pair of Austrians who wear bags on their heads. Other song titles include "My Hero-Power is My Moustache!" and "Wonder What to Do? Uh! No Problem! I Have the Bat-Belt!"
Of course.
Bitman & Roban - El Hechizo (mp3)(buy The Rough Guide to Latin Funk or Musica Para Despues de Almuerzo)
Bitman (pr. Beatman) is Chilean DJ Bitman (myspace) and Roban is robbing, or sampling. This was a band (myspace) featuring three henchmen and, on this track, rapper Tea Time. Tea Time wasn't a pip-pip pinky-up stiff associate of Lord Marmaduke Ffog and Lady Peasoup their squad of crumpets on the old Adam West TV series, but probably should have been. Lord knows the writers needed another opportunity to mask drug references.
"El Hechizo" translates as "The Spell," btw.
It's a shame the fight scenes in those episodes don't replace the "Zok!s" "Zlonk!s" and "Oof!s" with "Cheeri-Ow!" and "I Do Say!" and such.
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This new Gil Scot-Heron song is really, really good. Record comes out Tuesday.
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(Ethan Hawke, Local H fan, via Goldenfiddle)
"THE SIX ANGRY RECORDS TOUR - 1 Lucky Person Picks 1 Awesome Record Out Of A Hat And Local H Plays It In It's Entirety! It's all in the numbers......To promote their first live DVD-'68 Angry Minutes'-Local H is taking a cue from their sold out, 7 night stand in Chicago and bringing all 6 of their studio albums on the road. Every night, the band will put every one of their records in a hat (sorry, guys. No B-sides); one lucky(?) member of the audience will be selected to pull a record out of that hat-and presto! Local H will play it front to back. On the spot. All that AND a bonus set of choice cuts from the unpicked records. Only question is : Do you feel lucky, punk?"
LOCAL H (myspace) is touring!!! It has been too long. Right now there are two quick stretches scheduled through the South and Northeast:
03/06/10 Sat Elgin, IL Road House Elgin
04/09/10 Fri Glendale Heights, IL Shark City w/ Kinch
04/11/10 Sun Louisville, KY Zanzabar w/ Kinch
04/13/10 Tue Tampa, FL The Orpheum w/ Kinch
04/14/10 Wed Orlando, FL The Social w/ Kinch
04/15/10 Thu Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbit's w/ Kinch
04/16/10 Fri Atlanta, GA The Masquerade w/ Kinch
04/18/10 Sun Houston, TX Scout Bar w/ Kinch
04/21/10 Wed Fort Worth, TX Lola's Sixth w/ Kinch
04/24/10 Sat Otto's; Dekalb, IL
05/14/10 Fri Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig w/ Kinch
05/15/10 Sat Lancaster, PA Chameleon Club w/ Kinch
05/16/10 Sun Washington, DC Rock And Roll Hotel w/ Kinch
05/17/10 Mon Philadelphia, PA The Khyber w/ Kinch
05/18/10 Tue New York, NY Gramercy Theater w/ Kinch
05/19/10 Wed Allston, MA Harpers Ferry w/ Kinch
05/20/10 Thu Providence, RI Jerky's w/ Kinch
05/21/10 Fri Syracuse, NY Westcott Theatre w/ Kinch
05/22/10 Sat Toledo, OH Frankies w/ Kinch
05/23/10 Sun Chicago, IL Metro
Tickets for the Khyber show are now available. Tix for the Gramercy Theater go on sale at noon, today.
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The internet moves so fast: Selleck Waterfall Sandwich didn't even have time to beget Zmed Elegant Dining Room Pack Animal and Ian McShane Bagpipes in Space before being stabbed to death by Wilford Brimley Pooping Hot Pockets from a Trapeze.
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A bunch of Criterion titles are going OOP.
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Roman Polanski's 1966 film Cul-de-sac has never been released on DVD in the U.S.; I'm not even sure it was released on VHS. But it is currently streaming on Hulu. Not how I'd have chosen to see it, but there's not much of a choice.
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The Haitian Play: Orson Welles' "Voodoo Macbeth"
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"Some of the planet's best dancehalls and worst roadblocks are here, a testament to two of the country's nighttime priorities: clubbing and government extortion. The capital's CD shops are stocked with charismatic mic-hogs, loudmouths, and humor-mongers belting out tragic stories in the soothing tone of a drill sergeant."
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"I don't like psychology whatsoever: using music like a drug is stupid. One shouldn't do that : music is the product of the highest human intelligence, and of the best senses, the listening senses and of imagination and intuition. And as soon as it becomes just a means for ambiance, as we say, environment, or for being used for certain purposes, then music becomes a whore..." (via Marathonpacks)
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"The only way in which football is American is that coaches, like executives, always get new jobs after failing miserably and that Keith Olbermann ruins everything."