OFF!: First Four EPs

Artist: OFF! Title: First Four EPs Release date: November 23 Label: Vice Records In 2010, few things seem more ridiculous than a punk supergroup anchored by two guys who made their most indelible marks on American punk rock nearly 30 years ago. But, damn, OFF! pulled off an unlikely feat,…

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our 12/2 Issue

This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts.What long-forgotten nugget did Jason P. Woodbury unearth for the first installment of his “Obscuro” column?What did…

Jack White Angry With eBay Auction Participants

Jack White is pissed off at his own fans, according to Antiquiet. Jack’s own Third Man Records’ recent eBay auctions for one of five copies of the White Stripes’ rare first album reissue didn’t quite go as planned. He’s angry at flippers, the fans that buy these albums for cheap…

Robyn: Body Talk

Artist: Robyn Title: Body Talk Release date: November 22 Label: Interscope The critics sure do love the Swedish dance-pop star Robyn, who’s been releasing Body Talk in chunks throughout 2010 and now has finally dropped the entire album as one 15-song compendium. But there seems to be a common theme…

Google Translate Turns into a Beatbox

It turns out that Google Translate can do way more than translate a foreign business documents, help confused travelers, or decode what your mail order bride is saying, according to Gizmodo.In fact, if you go to Google Translate and set both language transition settings to German, you’ve got a good…

Girl Talk: All Day

This dearth of new music is why I chose to give a two-week old album — All Day by Girl Talk — a shot this week. Gregg Gillis, the man behind the madness, unleashed his fourth album on an unsuspecting world two Mondays ago, giving reviewers no time to proffer…

Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3: Northern Aggression

Artist: Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3Title: Northern AggressionRelease date: November 30Label: Yep RocSorry I ever doubted you, Steve. Like a lot of folks, I sure did love the first couple of Dream Syndicate records, especially the iconic Days of Wine and Roses, a record that may have summed up…

Lane Dawson: Love Letters (1985)

Welcome of Obscuro, a new weekly feature where Up on the Sun dives deep into the world of vinyl oddities: private press jobs, major label cast-offs, and general thrift shop clutter that’s thus far escaped anyone’s attention. These LPs have been hiding out, collecting dust, until we come along, investigate,…

Why Nick Mason Rejected Pink Floyd Reunion

, according to Spinner.It’s not that Mason, Pink Floyd’s drummer, didn’t want to support Palestinian refugee children, but rather that he was displeased with the choice of venue that was made for the event. Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Roger Waters ended up playing the Hoping For the Children of Palestine…

Girl In A Coma – Blue Christmas

Song: Girl In A Coma, “Blue Christmas”Context: Congratulations, it’s officially the Holiday Season. Today is the first day I’ll listen to (or at least allow myself to enjoy) Christmas music. This cover of the Elvis staple “Blue Christmas,” by Texas group Girl In A Coma is the first new Christmas…

Matty B Will Blow Your Mind with His 7-Year-Old Raps

Get ready to feel like a major under-achiever.This 7-year-old kid is living thug life to the fullest, and he will absolutely blow you away with his “cover” of Kesha’s “We R Who We R” (Perez Hilton is even raving about it.)Matty B already has an entourage of little girls (see…

Local Rapper Mr. Miranda Exercises His Right to Remain Old School

Dave Miranda might’ve been born 15 years too late. Ask the Phoenix rapper, who performs as Mr. Miranda, about his influences, and he speaks reverently about old-school hip-hop artists like Run-DMC, Gang Starr, Masta Ace, and Ice Cube. Even though Miranda was in grade school when those acts were at…

Roger Waters the Grownup Versus Syd Barrett the Kid

Roger Waters began playing in the earliest incarnation of Pink Floyd right around the time he turned 20 years old. At the time, the music was an innovative reflection of youth culture. It featured psychedelic, experimental sounds, prominent (often dissonant) guitar, and sweet vocal harmonies. We are reminded of this…

Funny Pics: Band Names Taken Literally

There are a lot of stupid band names out there. In fact almost every band name ever created is kind of stupid if you stop and think about it for a minute. Once you do stop to think about the literal meaning of the name it will change from this cool…

Avoid This on Black Friday: New Michael Jackson Video Game

Hopefully you’ve prepared yourself for this year’s lamest Christmas gift. According to Paste, Ubisoft just dropped a Michael Jackson video game available for Nintendo DS and PSP.As if there weren’t enough terrible video games that revolve around dancing already. Yet this one might take the cake. Michael Jackson: The Experience…

The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

Song: The National, “Bloodbuzz Ohio”Context: This very well might be my favorite single of 2010. Also, being carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees sounds pretty good when the alternative is an airport full of John Wayne wannabes refusing to submit to TSA’s scanners on principle. 06 Bloodbuzz Ohio…