Leonard Cohen and the Most Overlooked Live Album of 2009

Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 is not just some re-mastered re-issue. It ain’t no run-of-the-mill recording. This is the first time that Cohen’s entire performance at the historic festival has been released. Why is this exciting and noteworthy, you may ask? For several reasons.   Firstly, Leonard Cohen…

New Animal Collective Video “Brothersport”

In the wee hours of this morning/last night, Animal Collective posted the video for their track “Brothersport”at myanimalhome.net. The sneaky bastards have outdone themselves this time around, as the video is pretty out there — complete with day-glo eggs, mischievous children and creepy ’70s-era animation. Despite the band’s Merriweather Post…

Kings of Leon Start New Fashion Line

I realize this may be a highly unpopular thing to say, but I think it’s time for the Kings of Leon to go on sabbatical. The Tennessee quartet and their overplayed songs have found just one more way to make being a hipster more obnoxious and, yes, more expensive. The…

Surfer Blood: Astro Coast in “Nothing Not New”

Welcome to “Nothing Not New,” a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about…

Marilyn Manson + Evan Rachel Wood = Engaged

Evidently, this is the week for shocking celebrity engagements. Less than 48 hours ago, it was Russell Brand and Katy Perry. Now this. As Spin mentions, the news is a whole new kind of creepy. He’s said publicly that he fantasizes about smashing her skull in. In one of his…

New Issue Lowdown

We can officially look back at 2009 in the dust trail behind us. It’s over and done, and we are just finishing up contemplating what the year brought us. For the music crowd, that means a reflection of any and all recordings that made 2009 what it was. Music editor…

Yeasayer: Odd Blood

Welcome to “Nothing Not New,” a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about…

Year in Music: Phoenix, Passion Pit, Neko Case, and the Rest of the Village Voice Music Editor’s Rob Harvilla’s Records of the Year

Yeah, pal, that’s “college rock,” scare quotes very much included. Look, it’s a meaningless term. As are “indie,” “alternative,” “hipster,” etc., etc. Let’s not overthink this: Here we have 10 splendid records with an amorphous rock ‘n’ roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experimental and thoughtful vein than…

Year in Music: The Most Unintentionally Hilarious Lyrics of 2009

The lowest common denominator having been achieved in 2005 with the release of the Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business, popular musicians have had to work extra hard in recent years to find new and inventive ways to be inane. They found great success in 2009, with artists as varied as…

Nothing Not New: Cold War Kids

Welcome to “Nothing Not New,” a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about…

Russell Brand and Katy Perry Gettin’ Hitched

Does anyone else find this to be a “What the fuck?!?” moment? I was surprised that they were dating, and now just four months later, they’re engaged. The most sickening part: The picture you are viewing was posted on Perry’s Twitter page with the caption, “He built this for me…”…

Owl City’s Album Art Also Unoriginal

[jump] Here we can see the original picture, taken by Ben Eubank (flickr user benisntfunny): Now, I present booklet page 2 from Owl City’s most recent album Ocean Eyes: As you can clearly see, Young just up and took Eubank’s photo and made it is own, not before adding a…

Nothing Not New: Vampire Weekend

Welcome to “Nothing Not New,” a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Why? Because in the words of his editor, Martin Cizmar, he suffers from “aesthetic atrophy,” a wasting away of one’s ability…

MGMT, Vivian Girls, et al. to Cover David Bowie

Let’s face it. Cover albums are usually a bad idea. While it’s wonderful to see one artist admire another so much that (s)he wishes to have a recording permanently linking the two together, most of the time the art of the craft is lost. David Bowie’s Pin Ups is an…

Vampire Weekend Coming to Marquee

Everyone’s favorite band of early 2008, Vampire Weekend, will play the the Marquee on April 13. As I said when the band last played here, for what ended up being “Take Your Kids to a Concert” night in September 2008, their new record is make-or-break for the once hotly tipped…

Flaming Lips Take On Pink Floyd

The general rule for New Year’s Eve is to try and top every outlandish thing that you’ve done at a party in the last year. That’s kind of tough if you’re the Flaming Lips and you’ve already topped yourself more times than you can count. So Wayne Coyne and the…

Incoming: Owl City at Marquee Theatre

OK, so maybe I was a little harsh against Adam Young of Owl City in this post, considering his legion of fans are still posting comments every day debating whether or not he is, indeed, a pussy. But I’m still getting a ticket to check him out April 10 when he plays…