Beastie Boys: American Rock n Roll
So as B-Naut and I were trawling through the Check the Cool Wax site, he came across this. My eyes jumped out of their sockets to their deaths.
The RIAA Would Like a Word With You
McSweeney’s has published a “letter from the RIAA” basically outlining, in plain English, how they plan to pulverize you and use the dust of your bones as an additive for their next round of Darjeeling tea. Here’s a snippet:
The Recording Industry Association of America has enriched your life through music since you were a baby. But now you betray us? We will destroy you. This is your notice that you will be sued for one of the following:
1. Downloading a song from the Internet.
2. Singing the “Happy Birthday” song.
3. Other.
4. None of the above.
The Quarrymen: Meet the Proto-Beatles
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has posted a nifty array of Quarrymen MP3s. For those unaware, The Quarrymen would eventually leave water, lose their gills, learn to live on land, kill a bunch of mastodon and evolve into The Beatles. Mayhap you have heard of them.
The whole story can be found on her site as well, although perhaps in a more understandable form, so go check it out.
Listen. Get This: Ministry Motor Oil
Yes, you’re looking at a thing of motor oil that was used back in 1991 to promote Ministry’s classic, “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” It’s on eBay from WFMU. And amazingly, as I write this: no bids.
I’m tempted to bid, myself. That song helped me get through college. Is that sad? This is all very sad, isn’t it?
Album Review: Josef K – Entomology
Label: Domino Records
Josef K, named after a Kafka character, were a terrific Scottish band of the early 80s who wore their misery and angst on their sleeves. Their music is reminiscent of that weird kid at school who made everone knuckle under with a darting stare or a few phrases.
Josef K were a dark lot who created solid art pop records in the vein of Magazine, Televison or the Velvet Underground. They had attitude, spite and a keen sense of pop melody that Devo would kill for. Although they initially seemed to be a brief blip on the UK pop scene at the time, in retrospect they were massively important.
Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”: What With Poor Jim and His Lungs
Those who know why, know. Those who don’t can ponder it.
Peeping Tom Live on Conan O’Brien: Nice Hairnet, Mike
Missed this when it first hit, alas. Takes them about halfway in to catch the full groove of it, methinks, but once there it’s pretty nifty.
Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers: Come On, Boys, Let’s Have a Ball
An excellent snippet from Stormy Weather, which was released this year on DVD by Fox. Just damn, it’s good.
The Strangest Guitars Ever: Weird as Hell and Ready to Rawk
MusicGadgets.net has got a list of the Top 20 Strangest Guitars (well, 21–but who’s counting…you know, I mean, besides me). And no, that’s not Gandalf on that snippet there. It’s Jesus. He provides loaves, fishes, and rawk.
More Batman the Musical: A Souvenir of Death
Guess what? A vengeful cyberangel sent over links to two more songs from the Batman musical, which we’ve mentioned before.
And holy shit, they are terrible. I mean really, seriously terrible. Like even Andrew Lloyd Webber on a bad day is thinking, “WTF is that noise?”