Rolling Stone readers polls are the worst. Remember their “Top Ten Live Acts of All Time,” which was so terrible the entire Flavorpill staff came together to post an alternate list? Well, the aging rock magazine has done it again: Last week brought “Readers Poll: The Best Punk Bands of All Time.” And guess what? Not only did Green Day — Green Day! — take the #1 spot, but there wasn’t a single woman on the list. So, in an attempt to correct this latest grievous error, we have compiled a list of 15 essential women punk icons. Let’s be clear: These are hardly the only noteworthy women in punk. They’re simply the ones we think have absolutely earned a spot in any discussion of the best punk bands of all time.

Read More »

As we reported,  Nickelodeon plans to re-air some of their most beloved ’90s series in a block dubbed The ’90s Are All That. While some at Flavorwire worried that this resurrection of Kenan, Kel, Clarissa, and the like will rob these shows of the nostalgia that endear them to us (and make for such impassioned party conversations), others rejoiced. We poured ourselves celebratory orange sodas; we hung up our Fergface dart boards; we even went so far as to start our nostalgic navel-gazing a bit early and re-watch The Adventures of Pete & Pete. We discovered that a lot of our favorite musicians stopped by Wellsville during Pete & Pete‘s three seasons — from Iggy Pop to Michael Stipe, a surprising number of artists have made bizarre and wonderful cameos. After the jump, check out ten of our favorite guest appearances.

Read More »

Here’s something that probably won’t surprise you about Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon’s 16-year-old daughter, Coco Gordon Moore: She’s a tall, gorgeous blonde who knows how to front a freaking rock ‘n’ roll band. We had the pleasure of seeing her perform back in the fall, as part of a combo called She Murders at a tribute concert for Kathleen Hanna; Coco sang a reverent and energetic version of Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl.”

Now, Pitchfork points us to Coco’s other band, Big Nils, whose debut album, Sibling, is streaming on their Bandcamp site. For $5, you can download it. The eight-song recording is pure, skronky, adolescent punk, featuring one song about STDs (“You got the herpes/ What you gonna do about it?”) and an eyebrow-raising number about a mother-daughter relationship (“Deep Dark Death”). Speaking of moms, what’s sure to make the biggest impression on Sonic Youth fans is just how much frontwoman Coco sounds like Kim — although she evidently prefers a tortured scream to Gordon’s signature ice-cold whisper.

If you’re as constantly fascinated by Sonic Youth’s seemingly limitless array of arcane gear as we are, then rejoice – they’re putting some of it for sale on eBay! The sale part of an auction to raise money for a charity called ShelterBox – according to their website, they “respond instantly to natural and manmade disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need.” There’s a variety of kit available right now, with more to be added. Personally, we quite like the look of the old drum machine – but check out a selection of what’s available after the jump.

Read More »

1. Today in Sarah Palin news: The state of Alaska will release 24,000 pages of its former governor’s emails to members of the press who have requested them (note: they’ll have to pay the shipping fees for the five boxes, which weigh 55 pounds apiece). Last night in Sarah Palin news: She took a break from her patriotic bus tour to sit down for a slice of pizza with Donald Trump.

2. Thurston Moore told NME last night that Sonic Youth will be getting together later this year to record new material. As for their recent time off? “We made the decision to have a good solid year of not doing too much as a band,” he explains. “We just wanted to regenerate.”

3. Former sitcom writer Ken Levine (Cheers, M.A.S.H., Frasier) has come out against Roseanne Barr’s recent piece in New York magazine, saying that she “treated people like shit” and was “endlessly combative.” Barr says that he just loathes women. Meanwhile, Laurie Gelman, the first female writer-producer to work on Roseanne, is on Team Levine, and claims that Barr’s actually the sexist one. Barr says Gelman is just mad because she isn’t funny. Who to believe? [via Vulture]

4. Jesse Eisenberg may be reuniting with his The Squid and The Whale director Noah Baumbach; the film, which will also star Naomi Watts, tells the story of “a 40-ish childless couple that begins feeling alienated from their friends as those friends start to procreate, and strike up an unlikely friendship with a younger couple.” [via LAT]

5. This first look at the puppet from Guillermo Del Toro and The Jim Henson Company’s upcoming Pinocchio movie is definitely the creepiest thing you’ll see all day — especially when you remember that Nick Cave is doing the film’s soundtrack.

Bonus link: A Chanel bag made out of hand-stitched sheets of beef jerky

Monday shouldn’t be all bad — so if you’re still wandering around in a bleary-eyed, post-weekend haze, we have just the thing to wake you up. This week brings a great selection of new music to stream, including Cults’ long-awaited debut album, a welcome change of pace from Thurston Moore, and the new one from everyone’s favorite teen-soap stars Death Cab for Cutie. The five best excuses to hide behind headphones until it’s Tuesday are after the jump.

Read More »

One of the small joys of seeing a successful film can be the seamless way in which the soundtrack complements the images and dialogue on screen. Whether an original score, re-purposed compositions from elsewhere, or a collection of classic or contemporary pop songs, many great films have been elevated by the music they’ve utilized. Think of Bernard Hermann’s brilliantly jarring score for Vertigo; the way in which Trainspotting underscored key moments via the songs of Lou Reed and Underworld; McCabe and Mrs. Miller‘s anachronistic yet spot-on use of Leonard Cohen; and Spike Lee choosing Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” to open Do the Right Thing.

What follows is a list of instances where that perfect blend of music and film hasn’t been achieved — where terrific songs have found their way into a thoroughly flawed film, for instance, or where a not-entirely-successful experiment in pacing and tone nonetheless is bolstered by a selection of majestic songs.

Read More »

Over the weekend the music editors at The Guardian published a list of their favorite UK indie labels. Their great selection includes Rough Trade, Creation, Mute, and many more. Never averse to borrowing an idea we like, we thought we’d do the same for our favorite US-based indies. Of course, given the robust health of the US indie scene -– and the fact that, like The Guardian, we decided to constrain ourselves to 10 selections -– meant that we had leave a fair few out. So go on, tell us in the comments section who we’ve missed. Just try not to get too emotional about it, eh?

Read More »

Today at Flavorpilll, we witnessed what happens when the steampunk and Juggalo subcultures join forces. We were impressed by this elaborate Wu-Tang nail art. We explored the secret life of libraries. We read about the rise of post modern tourism, which means trips to locations like Roswell and Chernobyl. We wished that we could afford any of the pieces in this gallery of Sonic Youth-related art that will be auctioned off later this month. We wondered how in the world so many NYC teens seem to have no clue who The Beatles are. We were happy to hear that Larry David will be playing a nun in the upcoming Three Stooges movie. We were scared by the part of us that secretly wants to own the Kate Middleton Bridal Doll. And finally we grimaced as Miley Cyrus decided to cover “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Warning: Depending on how much you love Nirvana, you might not be able to stomach it.

We were lucky enough to score tickets to PJ Harvey earlier this week at Terminal 5, and were rewarded with one of the best shows we’ve seen in ages. She played every track off her new album Let England Shake, and it got us thinking about how consistently excellent her career has been, save for a slight dip in the early 2000s. There have been plenty of artists who’ve had one or two good albums in them but found it ever more difficult to maintain that level of quality once the initial rush of ideas is gone. Artists who’ve been able to put out a string of great albums without intervening stinkers are few and far between –- so we’ve rounded up ten of our favorites. We’ve set our bar at four consecutive great albums, which rules out a surprisingly large number of artists -– it’s tough to turn out nothing but goodness over a number of years! Feel free to add your suggestions in our ever-accommodating comments section.

Read More »