Blogs

Happy Freaky Friday on Thursday, since Westword is closed tomorrow! For a special Fourth of July treat, I give you this reason to love America, in all its glory. I have never been more proud that the USA declared their independence from tyrant Britain as I was when watching this atrocious ode to fast food from British pop group the Fast Food Rockers. Sure we have Britney Spears, but this piece of crap reached #2 in the British pop charts (according to infallible Wikipedia, anyway). I swear to god, my IQ dropped ten points while I was watching it. Conversely, I think I gained six pounds. It's not only stupid beyond all measure, dangerously catchy (seriously, you're going to have this stuck in your head all damn day) but it's also more than a bit disturbing -- there are some sexually suggestive things going on with the fast food and big blue dog in this video that I do not feel at all comfortable with. See the best reason ever to be glad America went its own way, after the jump (and happy Independence Day).

We stumbled across this enlightening graphical breakdown yesterday as we made our way across the Twitterverse. Somebody named Ethan Hein, a cat who evidently has a great deal of time on his hands, took the time and painstaking effort to deconstruct and then chart Michael Jackson's influence on the hip-hop world. While we don't agree with all of the lineage, we did find the breakdown rather intriguing. Click on the image to the left to enlarge.
  

Since issuing No Line On the Horizon, its latest and most relevant piece work in sometime, U2 has been working closely with architect Mark Fisher designing and constructing an elaborate staging set up for its upcoming tour. The ground-breaking design emphasizes unobstructed sight lines ensuring that every seat in the house has a great view. From the digital model on the act's website, the 360 degree design is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, though, for Denverites, unless you make your way to Norman, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Arizona, or Las Vegas in mid-October, the digital simulation is as close as you'll get. According to a Live Nation source, the 360° tour, which kicked off this past Tuesday in Barcelona, will not be making its way to Denver this year. No word yet on whether another leg will be announced next year. See full list of tour dates after the jump.

Jonathan Richman
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Lion's Lair
Better than: Seeing an energetic and earnest singer/songwriter play at the Bluebird or the Fillmore.

It seemed perfectly appropriate that Jonathan Richman opted to perform in the cramped confines of the Lion's Lair. The bar's small scope and understated feel served as a perfect complement to Richman's immediate and intimate style, an approach that depends largely on engaging an audience with contagious energy and minimal instrumentation. On Wednesday, the forum truly fit the performer.Throughout the hour-plus set of catchy pop song structures and stream-of-consciousness, brainy lyrics, Richman and his longtime drummer Tommy Larkins had no problems eliciting enthusiasm from the capacity crowd.

Sonic Youth guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo have a strong affinity for their Fender Jazzmasters. which they say have defined the Sonic Youth sound for more than two decades. According to Fender's press release, the guitarists have always modified their Jazzmasters by removing any extraneous controls and just leaving a three-way switch and volume knob. Starting today, Moore's signature Jazzmaster and Renaldo's "Jazzblaster" hit the streets.

Update: Last week's scuttlebutt turned out to be true. 3OH!3 indeed officially has the number one song on the radio in the country right now, and unsurprisingly, "Don't Trust Me" has reportedly gone double platinum.

Yeah, and it don't stop, and it don't quit. Speaking, of course, of the redamndiculous exposure of 3OH!3 right now. A few weeks ago, Eryc Eyl made a claim that the group had officially achieved ubiquity. With the frequency with which we've been blogging about the act's exploits, you'd have trouble making a case otherwise. But the hits just keep coming, as it were. Earlier this week, we posted a clip of the outfit's recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, and we just found out that the Boulder boys, who are purportedly in the studio this week with Lil Jon (aka LilJizzel), have graced the cover of AP -- again, second time in a matter of months -- and reportedly have the number one radio single in the country. Ubiquity indeed. Click the photo to the left to enlarge the cover feature Nathaniel Motte and follow the jump to see the one featuring Sean Foreman.

It's been a while since we've heard from SP Double, especially since the dissolution of his Boostwell crew. But from the ashes, he's dusted himself off and is gearing up to drop a collection of projects over the next six months. His new album, Loyalty, Honor, Respect, is due out sometime this fall, but before that, he'll drop an EP with Aftermath Records producer and Dr. Dre protege', Focus, called Focus on SP this summer. In the meantime, SP just dropped a new mixtape, Lost Gems, Vol. 1, that features SP rhyming over original and familiar tracks, along with contributions from Morning Star, DBD, Mr. Midas, EMB, American Trash Republic, and Justice. Get a taste of the mixtape and download it for free after the jump.

A year ago today, Johnny Schou died tragically at the young age of 22. Hard to believe that it's already been a year since the talented Tickle Me Pink bassist passed away. Schou, as you might remember, in a cruel twist of fate, died the morning that his band released Madeline, its Wind-up Records debut. His surviving bandmates somehow summoned to courage to soldier on after his death, drafting former Brotherhood of Dae Han guitarist Joey Barba to join the fold. The quartet, which just played a show this past Saturday at the Gothic (review forthcoming -- we just freed BA Frederick's write up from the clutches of over eager spam filter), memorialized the anniversary of his passing earlier today with a short, heartfelt note penned by drummer Stefan Runstrom posted on their website. Read the band's thoughts after the jump and then feel free to weigh in with some of your own.

Our flier of the week is a doozy this time around. It's for the Get Down party, which is moving to Beta this Friday, July 3, bringing a whole slew of talent including Whygee & Brikabrak, Input, 1984 and a bunch more. But most importantly, for FotW purposes, it gives us this incredible, candy-colored, tangerine-flake monstrosity of a show flier. What you see here is just a tiny part of the whole thing -- it was simply too big to fit in the blog, even in a reduced size/fidelity. The tiny slice you see here is full of pill bombs, graffiti-styled text, psychedelic sneakers ... it's like a hip-hop party on The Yellow Submarine! And lower down, you get AT-AT silhouettes, teddy-bear ghosts, pot leaves, and a dinosaur, among other fun stuff. That's good time in my book. To see the whole thing, click through to the jump -- but be warned, it's frigging huge and may take a while to load.

After a surprising and impressive performance at the Red Bull Big Tune beat competition last month (check out the battle with T-Mos here), DJ Vajra has even more things up his sleeve this summer. The superstar DJ announced that he and Othello (of Lightheaded and the Hip-Hop IS Music label) that they will be releasing their collaborative album, The Required Taste, this coming fall. The duo just a signed a deal with Colemine Records for U.S. distribution and Mic Life Records for release in Japan. In addition to that, Vajra also contributed scratches and cuts for the track "Patience," from the album Soul Power, the latest effort from Raashan Ahmad of Crown City Rockers. Don't have cash to cop any of these projects? Rest easy. Vajra is giving a free mix he did a while back called Satellite Radio. Download the free mix after the jump.