33.3 is an art show of album covers that have been reimagined and reinterpreted by artists and designers, which we first spotted over on Boing Boing. Click through to view 12 of our favorites — which range from the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds to Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast — and let us know in the comments if you think that they improved upon the original versions.
[Editor's note: For the next two Fridays, Flavorwire will be counting down our 20 most popular features of 2010. This post, which originally ran on January 19, 2010, comes in at position number 16.] Inspired by Lauren Leto’s “Stereotyping People By Their Favorite Author,” we realized the incredible potential for a mercilessly judgmental list of indie band stereotypes. It is a common fact that Cormac McCarthy readers are men who don’t eat cream cheese, but what about those who listen to The XX on repeat and The Flaming Lips on hallucinogens? They need labels, too. After the jump, in collaboration with contributor Jeff Luppino-Esposito, we lay down the reckless assumptions.
Brace yourself before reading this one. Making music about offensive things for shock value can come off as cheap and lazy, but these songwriters — cheeky, serious, and in between — know exactly what they’re doing. Whether it’s murder, oppression, or abuse that really turns your stomach, here are ten fantastic songs that make moral bankruptcy a little more listenable. You won’t like the people in any of them, but we suspect you’ll be singing along in no time.
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The 2010 holiday season has already seen announcements of a Paul Simon song called “Get Ready for Christmas,” as well as a Target compilation headlined by a Best Coast/Wavves duet and contributions from Bishop Allen, Blackalicious, and Crystal Antlers. In other words: the abundance of Christmas music already out there is about to get even more abundant. But for listeners whose musical tastes stray away from the traditional, finding appropriate choices to spin whilst trimming the tree or setting the Yule log alight can be a difficult task indeed. Attempting to balance the musically esoteric with the varying sensibilities that can arise during familial holiday gatherings can be virtually impossible. (We have personally seen several December 24th arguments break out over the relative merits of John Fahey’s New Possibility.)
What follows is a list of 10 albums, singles, collections, and compilations that might achieve that balance between general accessibility and an intriguing, offbeat sensibility. These may be your best bet for holiday music to satisfy a wide range of musical tastes — at least, until some microhouse producer spins the dulcet tones of the Jingle Cats into bliss-inducing gold.
Philly duo Chiddy Bang blur the lines between hip-hop and indie rock, sampling MGMT and Sufjan Stevens while working with Pharrell, Q-Tip, and Darwin Deez.
The pair’s debut album is set to hit shelves next year, preceded by this week’s release of the appropriately titled The Preview EP. At eight tracks, it’s almost a full album in itself, and paired with the group’s much buzzed-about Swelly Express mixtape, offers plenty of bangers to hold fans off until the album appears.
Will music ever see another David Bowie? Caspar Llewellyn Smith doubts it. In a recent Guardian piece, he argues that the recent Bowie revival, from Lady Gaga to a new covers compilation, is shallow and misses the point. “Yes, image was crucial to Bowie,” Smith writes, “but it wasn’t just his look that mattered; through the invention of multiple, subsequent personalities, he invited a different perspective on his art – his music.”
Now, we agree that it takes more than guyliner (hi, Brandon Flowers) or ringmaster status (what’s up, Mark Ronson) to earn a Bowie comparison. But we also think Smith is missing out on a handful of current musicians who really could live up to that legacy — and that he’s made up his mind on Gaga too early, considering that much of the Bowie legend has to do with how long he’s remained relevant. Page through our list of seven potential heirs to Bowie’s legacy and defend your own picks in the comments.
As of October 1st, we will be three-quarters of the way through 2010. And while the year has already brought more incredible albums than we can count, there are still plenty more promising releases yet to come before December, when critics will begin tabulating their best-of lists and the entire cycle will halt in preparation for 2011. In the next few months, expect some buzzy debuts (Nicki Minaj, Gold Panda, Braids), triumphant comebacks (Sufjan Stevens, Kanye West, Brian Eno, Corin Tucker), and new material from consistent favorites (Marnie Stern, Antony and the Johnsons, Rihanna). We preview all those and more — with streams, downloads, and videos — after the jump.
1. That’s one way to boost ticket sales: Billie Joe Armstrong will make his Broadway debut in the role of St. Jimmy for eight performances of American Idiot — from this Tuesday through Sunday evening. [via ArtsBeat]
2. Elisabeth Moss on whether Peggy will ever get with Don: “One of the virtues of their relationship is that it has never gone there, and I think that’s far more interesting to be the one who he hasn’t slept with than one of the 65 that he has.” [via EW]
3. After years of not getting along, Sean and Julian Lennon have recently reconnected — and it makes Yoko Ono really happy. [via Gatecrasher]
4. Max Weinberg won’t be joining Conan O’Brien on his new TBS show. Instead Jimmy Vivino, a guitarist and keyboard player in O’Brien’s house band on Late Night and The Tonight Show, will be taking over as band leader. [via TV Guide]
5. This is what Lady Gaga wears when she visits a nursing home. Does it remind you at all of Hillary Clinton? [via Styleite]
Bonus link: Stream Sufjan Stevens’s new album, The Age of Adz
This week’s mix is a little different. Specially curated by a North Ireland-based trio named after the mispronunciation of a local Tudor Cinema, this collection of ten songs showcases the eclectic influences that inspire their brand of catchy indie pop.
Two Door Cinema Club has already been featured as one of BBC’s Sounds of 2010 and opened for Phoenix. Their selections range from notables like Sufjan Stevens and Ben Gibbard to up and comers like Wild Nothing and Fool’s Gold. Click through the links to download the songs individually or all at once, after the jump, and read what Two Door Cinema Club has to say about each band.
1. Following the release of last week’s surprise All Delighted People EP comes a brand new Sufjan Stevens full-length on October 12: The Age of Adz. It’s his first LP in five years. [via Pitchfork]
2. Rob Thomas is working on a new show for NBC that’s called Temp and it sounds a lot like his canceled Starz series Party Down. [via TV Squad]
3. Just what you’ve been waiting for: This year Ricky’s will be offering Jersey Shore Halloween costumes. [via Gothamist]
4. An all-male spin-off of The View is currently in the works, and at the top of Barbara Walters’ wish list is Bryant Gumbel to play the show’s moderator. [via Gawker]
5. Ahem: Michael Cera is developing a new show for FX about a dude who keeps getting dumped because he’s “stuck in the limbo between childhood and adulthood.” [via Digital Spy]
Bonus link: Literary Ringtones
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