John Darnielle and I are probably the only ones who care...

Nevermind Pavement, I'm WAY more excited about this reunion. According to the BBC, after 20 years apart, Spandau Ballet are releasing a new single and touring. It's TRUE (see what I did there!).

More importantly however is the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle's take on the band. In this recording, he spends nearly 12 minute?! daring to make sense of the song "True". His absurd dissection of the lyrics, syntax and structure are any music critic's wet dream. Not to mention downright hilarious. In other words JD explains, we should both love and hate "True" because "in its total refusal to yield to even the closest reading, (it) is a masterstroke of code speak."

Spandau Ballet's "True Story" - The Mountain Goat

"We're all considered horrorcore"

As readers of a (primarily) indie rock blog, we're pretty sure you're big fans of either Insane Clown Posse or Slipknot. But not both. You're either a Juggalo or a Maggot. Buuuuuut it doesn't have to be this way. These boys are here to prove it. Can't we all just get along???

Jay-Z & Michael McDonald heart Grizzly Bear. Group Hug!

I stood on a picnic table yesterday, squinted my eyes through the sun and peered around the park, just scoping out the crowd at the Grizzly Bear show at the Williamsburg Waterfront. I had been loitering around for 4 hours (because I'm hardcore like that) making sure I had a prime spot to see and hear some of my fave songs of the year. I don't fool around when it comes to free shows. I don't fool around when it comes to free anything. Among the 6,000 people I saw a guy that looked an awful lot like Jay-Z, but I shrugged it off. Jigga at a Grizzly Bear show would be as incongruous as Grizzly Bear at a Jay-Z show. But I was wrong. WRONG. Moral of the story: don't make stupid assumptions. Ever. Lesson learned: if it looks like Jay-Z, it probably is. Especially if there's a girl that looks like Beyonce standing right beside him.

Video proof of Jay-Z rocking out to "Ready, Able". And by "rocking out", I mean "swaying", because that's about as rocking as GB get.


By the way Michael McDonald sings on the new Grizzly b-side! Jigga What?!
Stream it here and your mind will be BLOWN!

"Sexy ladies with high IQs"

I have my boyfriend to thank (or to blame) for exposing me to what is probably the ultimate example of a bad song by a great artist. And since I'm going through a crisis in self-confidence I'm relying on it for as a reminder of my own smart-girl-ness. So here it goes.

You know that pop music genius Brian Wilson, like the dude in the Beach Boys, right that guy. Well for one brief moment in the late 80s he decided to rap. We want to blame the cocaine and mental illness, but even that doesn't excuse the travesty of "Smart Girls". Imagine if Girl Talk decided to slice and dice every Beach Boys song, except instead of using his usual precision, he just haphazardly cuts-and-pastes them together in chaotic disarray. That description can hardly do justice to the insanity of this song, an apologetic ode in which Wilson declares his love to "sexy ladies with high IQs". And shockingly the album on which it was slated to appear, the aptly titled Sweet Insanity was rejected by Sire records. Amen for bootlegs!

Smart Girls - Brian Wilson