A Perversion of Morrissey

This has already made the rounds of the blogosphere, but I thought it worth repeating. Seems the NFL has taken to recontextualizing an older Morrissey song (a cover possibly by the Decembrists’ Colin Meloy, though that’s unverified.) Here’s the commercial:

And here’s the lyrics:

Everyday Is Like Sunday

Trudging slowly over wet sand
back to the bench
where your clothes were stolen
this is the coastal town
that they forgot to close down
Armageddon – come Armageddon!
Come Armageddon! Come!

Everyday is like Sunday
everyday is silent and grey

Hide on the promenade
scratch out a postcard
how I dearly with I was not here
in the seaside town
…that they forgot to bomb
Come! Come! Come – nuclear bomb!

Everyday is like Sunday
everyday is silent and grey

Trudging back over pebbles and sand
and a strange dust lands on your hands
(and on your face)
Everyday is like Sunday
Win yourself a cheap tray
share some greased tea with me
everyday is silent and grey.

These lyrics capture a bleak intersection of emotion and landscape just about perfectly. Even still, it makes perfect sense that the line ‘Everyday is like Sunday’ would be used by the NFL, despite being taken out of context to an absurd degree, and I would be curious if Morrissey had direct involvement with the licensing of the song, which I suspect he must have. The Morrissey fanatics don’t seem to know, and most of them are up in arms about the pairing iof their beloved Moz (not in voice, but in word) with the NFL.

Buy Your Music, Again!

News came out yesterday that compact-flash card manufacturer SanDisk is teaming up with some record labels and retailers to unveil the “slotMusic” format (here’s the article from Wired/AP.)

This idea caught my eye because the small memory cards are becoming more ubiquitous these days – I recently bought a new cell phone, and the only way to download photos I had taken was to purchase a memory card – and it makes sense that someone would decide to mass market them for something other than image-collection.

Will it fly? My initial reaction, as indicated by this post’s title, was, ‘I’ll have to buy my music again?’ But putting this aside, there are some compelling reasons why this might work.

First, the card will mean you won’t have to buy any new hardware, which is a smart tactic in today’s economy. The 1 GB size will be able to hold an album along with other music (although, the dude from SanDisk says it will also hold the cover art – but who wants to look at cover art on a cell phone screen? Long live the vinyl LP!) and liner notes. And thus far, considerations of audio quality have not been addressed – I mean, if you play the ’slotMusic’ on your cell phone, what sort of music experience is this?

Replacing records with CDs was a long, drawn-out process. It’s highly unlikely that this new format will replace the CD, and I think this because those behind the initiative hope that this is what will bring people back into retail stores. I’m not sure anything will bring people back to retail stores. Once digital retail is worked out, the main reason people will go to record stores will be to buy… vinyl. Of course, this new format could also catch fire with the under-25 set, and if that happens then a sea change may in fact be in the offing.

And I’m not sure that ’slotMusic’ is going to fly as a name, but that’s another thought entirely.

Feist, meet the Cookie Monster

When I first heard the news that Leslie Fiest was reworking her hit “1234″ – already an iTunes-branded smash (which followed the Verizon-branded hit “My Moon, My Man”) – for Sesame Street, it came as no surprise. When I first heard the song, I latched onto its childish melody immediately, thinking how strange it was that this was becoming a hit. It is so refreshing and naive a song and production – well, every once in a while a song like this comes along and takes the public consciousness by storm.

“1234″ is that close to being a children’s song anyway, so it’s barely a stretch for “1234″ to migrate over to Sesame Street. Here’s the clip:

Cheerful and unthreatening, the Leslie Fiest you see here is modern music’s brightest face: able to bridge the divides of age, and a perfect comfort to the new generation of iTunes/Sesame Street-reared toddlers (and adults.) Highly brandable, it’s true what people say of Feist: her warmth and optimism are what carries her. It’s a credit to Leslie that people have latched on so securely to her clean, uplifting aural aesthetic. And Sesame Street is the perfect fit!

Smart Money is on Brooklyn

Whatever you think of the Knitting Factory – has it declined since becoming more receptive to pop/rock bands? improved? has your little scene been excluded from bookings? you were denied entry? – it is one of the longest lasting clubs in New York City, and next to CBGBs, which lost relevance ages before its celebrated closure, the Knit is like the Trump Tower, compared with CBs ramshackle dump.

So what does this have to do with Brooklyn? The Knit is opening up in Williamsburg where the Luna Lounge used to be. And, according to the Times, is also moving to Boise and Spokane.

It’s something I’ve been saying to whomever will listen: the smart money is on Brooklyn. Meaning, everything worthwhile is getting priced out of Manhattan. The Knit’s lease is due up next July, and its move to Brooklyn most likely means that it will leave Manhattan entirely.

It is also proof of the increasing monopolization of the big two concert promoters in the city, Bowery Presents and Live Nation. The Bowery has, what, 200 clubs now under its banner? And Live Nation is just a bully.

But you should read the Times article, because it describes how Knitting Factory Entertainment has had to branch out into mainstream concert promotion as a way of gaining a foothold in the west, by having to buy out a concert promotion company out there to secure a stable of bookings in the new territory. The article suggests that the income from these big bookings – Elton John, James Taylor – are subsidizing the barely-break even clubs in NYC and LA.

Regardless of the more national reach of KFE, the Brooklyn club should be able to hold its own, or will at least be easier to get to then the Tribeca location. And who ever wanted to walk around silent, grim Tribeca after a Diamanda Galas or Hot Snakes show, anyhow? So watch out Todd P and your ilk. Brooklyn is no longer off limits.

Marnie Stern, Shredder-For-Sale

The inimitable Marnie Stern – she of the golden locks, furious fret board tapping, and iPod band – is, according to Pitchfork, for auction on eBay.

Her record label, Kill Rock Stars, is auctioning off a guitar lesson with Ms. Stern, presumably in her upper east side apartment where you can meet her dog! Learn how to tap and shred like the Sternster, but you’ll likely NOT learn how to title an album This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That (is that from Marcel Duchamp as well?) or learn how to write supersmart song titles like “The Crippled Jazzer”, “Put All Your Eggs In One Basket and Then Watch That Basket!”, “Plato’s Fucked-Up Cave,” and my new fave, “Roads? Where We’re Going We Don’t Need Roads.”

Really, and it’s a credit to how nice Stern is, she’s an original.

Lanois/Eno Record U2 Masterpiece?

I’ve really got to quit writing about mega-bands. But first, this:

Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois have been busy working on the new record by U2. Having long ago lost interest in U2 (after the embarrassing Rattle and Hum) and the move to pandering stadium-shakers like Mysterious Ways (though One remains a great tune, brought to my attention by Johnny Cash), I recently popped The Unforgettable Fire onto the turntable and marvelled at what a unique-sounding smash record it is, with only a few dull moments, and a true about-face from the body-slam that was War.

Bono was no stranger to boasting, and said the band would be as big as Led Zeppelin around this time, a boast that became the truth. Of course following Fire came The Joshua Tree, where the Eno/Lanois partnership succeeded in creating a modern masterpiece that holds up to this day, and one I listened to repeatedly when it came out in 1987. Funny: I’ve never owned the record. I always listened to it as side A of a cassette (Crowded House’s debut record was on side B) given to me by a record store employee named Cathy when I was in high school. That tape has survived many a road trip and many a Walkman-play… but I digress, and poorly, at that.

The band was just finding its legs and hitting large-scale acceptance, like a kid hitting puberty and discovering sexual charm, when Eno and Lanois first came on board. The band is now much older and have received all the accolades, including all manner of ‘best band in the world’ awards. They are like the veteran stud of the horse stable, having won the career race and played all the right cards. They have used Eno/Lanois in various combinations for the majority of their post-War career.

Obviously, the combination is working. I was going to wonder here if Eno and Lanois could handle a band as big as U2 since the Vertigo Tour, and the answer is an obvious yes. The only question, I guess, then, is if the band can handle yet another sonic rearrangement – apparently this time, the record will be influenced by techno elements, which to me, makes we want to stick a very large “Beware of Techno” sign in their front lawn.

See, thing is, Lanois is claiming in Billboard that he and Eno are making a ‘masterpiece.’ Here’s the quote:

“We’re going to try and break new sonic ground and deliver a masterpiece.”

Bravado is never in short supply in the U2 camp, that’s for sure. Masterpiece is a word that, like brilliant, seems to be overused. So we’ll just have to hear what the record sounds like, and maybe my interest in U2 will be revived.

Nutty is the New Gnarly

OK, so I wrote recently about the Rick Rubin-guided new Metallica record, to be called Death Magnetic. Lars Ulrich spoke at a press conference a while back, and it turns out that the new record (with some songs clocking in at ’seven-minute, eight-minute, nine-minute’ according to Lars) takes Metallica in a new artistic direction that he calls, and I quote (I swear, I couldn’t make this up), “nutty.”

Straight out of Lars’ mouth, that is. At one point he describes the longer songs as “nutty-ass,” and another point says the material is “nutty.” Which begs the question in the title of this post: Is ‘nutty’ the new ‘gnarly?’ Will Lars’ phrase catch on? And will headbangers catch on to Lars’ phrase and call Death Magnetic a ‘nutty-ass’ album? I wait with bated breath for the viral spread of Lars’ latest utterance, because, seriously, it’s just too much. First, ’stock.’ And now ‘nutty.’ The guy’s an original, that’s for sure.