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perpetua: Hannibal Buress imagines Young Jeezy as a real estate...

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:38:00 -0400

Hannibal Buress imagines Young Jeezy as a real estate agent.

Oh my god this is so funny.

I think it bears the gravity of noting that this track is from a new comedy special called Hannibal Buress Animal Furnace, which is an unbelievably great title. And the Odd Future joke is also some of my favorite music criticism of the year. This is worth your three or so minutes. I promise.

"You don’t need me to tell you this, but “Passin’” is an absolute..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:33:00 -0400

“You don’t need me to tell you this, but “Passin’” is an absolute masterpiece, the too-smart-by-half class clowns ruminating on their romantic insufficiencies. It’s the group’s biggest hit, and the primary reason to call Bizarre “one of the most joyously heartbreaking albums ever,” as Ernest Hardy did. Powered by Fatlip’s impassioned howl on the chorus (which J-Swift claims in the box-set liners was a playful Jim Morrison impression arising from The Doors playing at the crib), “Passin’” is half-rapped, half-sung soul music made by a group of kids remarkably unafraid of seeming uncool or wussy. Fatlip emerges as the star, singing the hook and delivering one of rap’s all-time greatest climax verses. It opens with the lovely bit of lyrical hopscotch “now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian,” and concludes with two bars that firmly situate the song in a litany of pop sentiment, nodding toward Rodgers & Hart, and sending two shouts to Elvis at his most lovelorn. Buffeted by high rotation on “Yo! MTV Raps” and BET’s “Rap City”, the song’s arty black and white video (which Ross recalls being beat out by Onyx’s “Slam” as MTV’s one regular-rotation rap clip) made the Pharcyde a hit with rap fans and Buzz Bin acolytes alike. “If we got that MTV slot,” Ross remembers, “I can only imagine how big that song would have gotten.””

- Eric Harvey’s on a historiographic music writing tear! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this review, and learned even more.

"When I was young, I watched about a thousand PSAs on TV about why I shouldn’t smoke cigarettes...."

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:21:18 -0400

“

When I was young, I watched about a thousand PSAs on TV about why I shouldn’t smoke cigarettes. These PSAs were theatrical, and graphic, and grim. They told me smokers would die ugly, live unhappily, and perhaps turn into giant talking cigarettes themselves. At least one of them gave me vivid nightmares about having my internal organs catch fire.

Another thing about those PSAs: they didn’t work. I started smoking when I was 12. I did it for the stupidest, most predictable reason, too: I got an in with the cool kids at my school, and they all smoked. So I smoked. The habit continued, and intensified, on and off, for years: I smoked socially in middle school and high school, on my own in college, and then, eventually, I was just a smoker. A chain-smoker, actually. My boyfriend—who was a social smoker—started hiding his cigarettes from me, because he knew that if I found them, I would smoke the pack, and smoke it quickly, and not realize how much I was smoking until the cigarettes were already gone. When I challenged him about the hiding of cigarettes, he compared my behavior to “a scene in Trainspotting.” AND MEANT IT.

So, I’m not going to warn you not to smoke.

”

- — I am, however, going to write you a Rookie article about quitting. Which contains numerous panic attacks, lots of relapses, a search for my boyfriend’s hidden cigarettes, and an ongoing journey.

For those seeking an update: I relapsed some more, went back up a bit on nicotine lozenges, and finally did the thing all ex-smokers tell you to do, which is to exercise more. And either Brian isn’t smoking any more, either, or he’s carved a secret hiding place for those cigarettes in the walls, because I haven’t seen them since.

(via sadybusiness)

I keep all the cigarettes precious, balled up in a metaphysical fist lodged deep down in me. The secret is I’m always smoking.

Pretty sure that’s not why “bloggers are...

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:12:00 -0400

Pretty sure that’s not why “bloggers are dumb”, though if the cure for cancer could be found in pageview generation then yes it would be (maybe) a bad allocation of resources to cover stories that are only interesting to yourself.

Given the reins to the godhead blog CMS, I know I could only muster the stuff to write (ahem) report about Gay Obama.

And we all know how music journalists are heavily invested in optimal allocation of resources. Definitely only write about “Ricky Gervais 2012 Golden Globes Opening Monologue”, “Pe Lanza leva pedrada na cabeça em show! (Rio das”, and “Champion Spotlight - Sejuani, the Winter’s Wrath” or else you may become instantly irrelevant and/or a plague on humanity.

Which is it? Bloggers are doing themselves a disservice because the thing they’re writing about isn’t popular enough -or- they’re bloviating pageview grabbers because they jump on the meme train? Allow me to destroy your mind: some people were writing about her video before she even had video. That’s a heavily zen form of blogging.

My advice: write about what you want, do a good job, and try to make yourself happy.

sarapocock: I present to you this animated loop of Tig Notaro...

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:54:00 -0400

sarapocock:

I present to you this animated loop of Tig Notaro pushing a stool. Tig is a hilarious comedian who brings much joy to the world. I love her work and you should, too.

I was reminded how much I love her last Thursday at a live screening of This American Life, during which she delivered her superlative Taylor Dayne monologue—this time with a twist ending! Encore screenings are happening tonight, May 15th, and you should really go check it out. Seriously. It’s fantastic.

Hah, love the gif. Tig Notaro is so funny. I think Conan video has the bit with her pushing the stool. Very funny stuff. And remember: No moleste.

I can literally only imagine this family riding around in that,...

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:08:00 -0400

I can literally only imagine this family riding around in that, blasting Clams Casino and Balam Acab on the Bose® Centerpoint® 5-channel surround sound system of their Swagger Wagon.

You Should Say Why You Like Things

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:38:00 -0400

I’m no expert, but I believe you should say why you like things.

Now, like I said, I don’t exactly know what I’m talking about here, but it makes sense to me for people to explain or at least describe why they like certain things. Otherwise, life becomes a neverending unPinteresting slideshow of flag planting and aesthetic curation. Life turns into the cultural apocalypse that Thorstein Veblen warned us about. And that’s that shit I don’t like.

You don’t need to tell me about stupid-easy Note-baiting and the memeification of ‘life’. Because I’m on it, and it’s fun to do. But at some point, well at any point, it’s nice for someone to tap the brakes.

For example, I know that a lot of people like Lil B but I also know that a lot of people like saying things like “Lil B fucked your ho” and “SWAG!!” a lot. So it’s nice when someone crosses over and talks earnestly about why they like someone like Lil B.

Otherwise, life seems to become, well, see above. Swag! Like! Swag! Swag! Like! Like! Reblog!

And then come the people who point out (rightly) that that method of living and talking about things makes no sense. But they do it (generalizing here) in a really annoying and facile way. I don’t get why anyone likes Lil B he’s retarded. Well, ok. I get it. Lil B is overrated he sucks and he’s gay.

It makes sense for the level of critique to rise exactly as high as the level of ‘hype’ supporting an art object. That should be some sort of Law of the Internet or something. (I call that, btw: B Michael’s First Law Of The Internet.)

That’s why there are entire departments devoted to Shakespeare — even if you don’t like him or think he didn’t exist or think he was an unhappy accident of colonialism and cultural mercenariness — there are at least a lot of smart people talking about why he’s great and why he’s problematic. That’s also why a show like Girls got memefied (see above) but it also created a spirited debate about sex, race, class, aesthetics — the whole thing. Lots of smart people took up the pro and the con side, and the result was a lot of awesome writing and thinking. That’s why people don’t really care about your How I Met Your Mother recap. (Just kidding, I’m sure HIMYM recaps get 111K pageviews.)

Anyway — and now you may be upset — this is just prologue or table setting for my main point, which is that I really like what Kitty Pryde is doing on “Justin Bieber” and “Okay Cupid”, and I’m going to say specifically why because simple cries of “AWESOME!” or “SHE SUCKS SPEND YOUR TIME ON SOMETHING BETTER” simply should not be addressed or countenanced.

They’re not only worthless comments, but they actually have a negative value. Well, or, they’re bad in a way that seems economic to me, a non-economist.

I guess at first I listened to “Okay Cupid” a lot because of Beautiful Lou’s production. If you don’t know, he produced two tracks on A$AP Rocky’s album, did that cool “Illusions of Grandeur” remix for Lil B, and works with Green Ova Main Attrak and Western Tink. You know, typical post-MBDTF cloud rap shit. So yeah, I was interested last month when I saw one of my cloud rap bros post the song. Plus it’s weird because, duh, young-sounding white girl making her way into this exotic and dangerous world. Definitely meme-worthy link-bait stuff.

But the thing is and here it is I’ll tell you: her shit’s really good. Like, it seems really profoundly interesting at least, to me, because she’s not a really good rapper. She is not (as I saw someone last night on my dash say some combination of Dave Berman and Lorrie Moore (COME ON SLOW YOUR ROLL)) but why would she be? She’s like in high school.

The thing I like Kitty Pryde’s two songs are that they sort of seem like they’re really intimate pictures of girls (#girls) in a way that’s sort of totally (as much as it could be) unencumbered by the male gaze (as far as I understand the concept, which is not that far).

After reading a lot of Tao, MuuMuu House, Thought Catalog, HTML Giant, etc., etc., I just, well, I am not apologizing for enjoying the affectless sincerity thing that everyone else seems to mistake for irony. And this Kitty Pryde stuff is like the real soundtrack for all that.

“Okay Cupid” is a little more hook-y and problematic probably because it’s obviously a love song and we all know that love is dead and sucks and stuff. But it’s also like, yeah, it’s like life. Drunk dials and snorting adderall and this newfound youngperson obsession with marriage. And the “Get out of my room” bit. I’ve never had a little sister but a lot of my friends did when I was a kid and that’s just how they all sounded. Kitty Pryde is like the little sister I never had.

I like how it’s a love song, but it doesn’t seem totally subsumed to the market or sexual economy or anything else that makes most love songs seem either like sepia portraits of some times that never existed or commercials to make you buy (improbably) Doritos-flavored lube or something.

“Okay Cupid” also has, if you think about it, a perfect title.

“Justin Bieber” is just a powerhouse of an amazing song, and no one will ever convince me otherwise.

I mentioned this earlier, but the thing I really like about the song is that it flips the idea of older men wanting to straightfuck young girls. Except that Justin Bieber is older than Kitty Pryde, I think. But I suppose that just makes it more interesting and weird. Because the song is premised on the Iconic aspect of idols and not on their physical quiddity. It’s like, as the song says, cute boys are fungible.

Boys are like milk, they expire if you’re late on em
And it’s legal for me, man I don’t even have to wait on em
Catch me at the middle school, chattin up skateboarders
I hoard high school sophomores that want whores
And listen to hardcore, drive em to the show
And if I lose em in the pit then fuck it, let’s just go
Cover my ears every time the stupid beat drops
I’m thirteen, what is lean? what is dream pop
Scared in the backseat when they need to make a weed stop
And if they catch me i’ll just cry for all the mean cops
I like em sixteen with bleached hair and supreme tops
And the dirty ass vans on their feet flop on over

There’s something funny about someone saying, “What is lean? What is dream pop?” The dual questions also sort of support this idea I had that Kreayshawn represented the future of hip-hop. I know that sounds nuts, but it’s just that people like Kitty Pryde and Kreayshawn appeal to me precisely because they pick and choose from points and sounds today, and they’re not, yes, steeped in tradition. But neither am I, and a slavish adherence to traditional mastery is going to shrink, not grow, your audience. So I can see on the one hand why traditional mastery rap folks really dislike Kreay and Kitty — for good reasons and bad reasons — but those same reasons are sometimes the exact reasons why I like them. Picking and choosing, getting the best, coolest-sounding things, using them for fun and profit. It’s good.

There’s more. I like the playing with personal identity, because that’s honestly the only protection in the world a teenaged girl seems to have. Is hiding and lying about herself. I like how the playing with personal identity hasn’t extinguished her ability to want and to create. I like the way her voice crackles when she says, “If I lose em in the pit then fuck it let’s just go”.

So yes: “Justin Bieber” takes the “Okay Cupid” theme and brings it to its essence: creating a safe space for young girls to have love. On her own terms, in ways that please her, and that seems just so weird to me. It’s weird to hear a young person sound happy and loving in ways that don’t compromise what you’d think of as “her own good”.

I added “Okay Cupid” and “Justin Bieber” on April 13, and I’ve listened to the two songs 74 times combined since then. There’s not another artist I’ve listened to more in such a concentrated way. That says something about the depth of Kitty Pryde’s catalog (not very, at all) but it also says something about how great and re-listenable these two songs are.

When someone talks about “rap” or “music” or “good”, well, I feel like Plato was actually totally wrong, had it totally backward. In his paean to young boy love (The Symposium), he says how Socrates says how Diotima says how love is loving one thing, then loving a predicate it has thus applying that love to more things, and then finally reaching an idea of LOVE in general, universal, as a transcendent thing. I actually think it’s the reverse. I say “I love this song because it’s good”, and you might (probably) hear, “He loves this song because it’s good but it doesn’t sound like this other thing so he’s wrong”. Or you could snipe at Beautiful Lou for producing a song for a shitty rapper, but I don’t know what rap is supposed to be or sound like. It’s everything? It’s not anything? It’s a set of social and economic circumstances? It’s a region? It’s a decade? It’s like Camu Tao and Cam, too? I don’t know what you mean by rap! So you should tell me.

It’s sort of (definitely) a me-problem because I only merely skimmed that Caramanica piece and I did YouTube a couple (terrible) Northern State songs and I don’t care that much what Kreayshawn is doing and that it’s unfair that some people get attention while others don’t. If you were to ask me if I think good things should get more attention than bad ones, then I would tell you YES. I think a lot of editors and webmasters probably feel the same way and they also feel like they want to have jobs so they just arbitrarily throw up links and two-line ‘pieces’ about whatever seems to be popular on Tumblr at the moment, which is how Lana Del Ray etc.

So we have an aporia. I mean, do you really think people running Stereogum or the New York Times hate you that much that they’ve cleverly engineered their content so it just pisses you off? I don’t think they have that demographic information, and if they did they’d use it for good (read: profit$$$) and not evil (read: you griping about them all the time). They’re trying, I think.

This is my promise to you: to try. When I like something and I feel like I can spend the time on it, I will tell you why. This is actually a promise I’ve already made to you. I think this is one of the points Emily Gould made last week: simply sharing stuff, giving it a little heart or thumbs up, etc. doesn’t support it. And I would go further! It’s actually kind of bad. The Like economy suffers inflation at a terrifyingly fast pace. So if a bunch of people Like something without supporting it (ahem I gave Kitty Pryde $5 last month, which was apparently 20% of her revenue to date according to VICE) then you’re just going to make that thing fail. Because everyone else is going to get sick of hearing about it, and the artist in question won’t have gotten anything for the process of utterly exhausting the good faith and patience of their audience.

So do that instead: buy the thing, or at least contribute meaningfully to the Like economy. Otherwise, it seems like maybe the thing you like will go away.

nathanaelturner: Rochester, NY 2010 Gorgeous!

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:12:05 -0400

nathanaelturner:

Rochester, NY 2010

Gorgeous!

Killer Mike“Reagan” This new Killer Mike album is...

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:48:00 -0400

Killer Mike
“Reagan”

This new Killer Mike album is so serious and so awesome at the same time. I don’t really get why #occupy has drum circles when it should just have G-Side/Killer Mike/Danny Brown circles instead. Oh, right: #race.

Anywhicheverwaywho: this album is pure awesome.

It’s not as skronky and jagged as El-P’s, it’s a bit more cohesive than anything the internet-type rappers seem to be doing, and it’s basically anti-commercial anti-authority makes-its-own-authority. It’s an atom bomb comet cloud scouring the filthy bath tub of etc. you get it. I like it.

howtotalktogirlsatparties: The many faces of Big Sean. Oh,...

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:27:00 -0400

howtotalktogirlsatparties:

The many faces of Big Sean.

Oh, well this must be why Kanye (inexplicably) keeps Big Sean around…

I have commissioned a very important piece of art.

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:09:30 -0400

I have commissioned a very important piece of art.

If you’re sick of whiny teenage girls making rap music...

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:48:00 -0400

If you’re sick of whiny teenage girls making rap music (and really, why wouldn’t you be because you’re very important and your time is more precious/good than manna is/was to desert wanderers) then you may instead support a universally-loved and lauded group of rappers who are doing it the right way, and that is very important.

"Shields says that the effect of the differences is cumulative and best understood over the course of..."

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:22:00 -0400

“Shields says that the effect of the differences is cumulative and best understood over the course of a full listen. Having listened to the CDs on three different pairs of headphones and two different stereo systems of varying quality, I can say that they are slightly different (one is just a hair louder) but the qualitative distinctions are extremely minimal, at best. And there is a digital glitch on “What You Want” on one of the remasters, which seems both comical and tragic considering how long these have been in the works. So I guess I’ll be listening to the one without the mistake, then.”

- My Bloody Valentine Loveless (Reissue) By Mark Richardson; May 11, 2012

I think this is really the best/last word on the remaster aspect, which is clearly quite important to the release seeing as virtually everyone’s been able to listen to one of the most perfect albums ever made since it was released, yet it’s now time to re-inaugurate it as slightly more perfect.

Reading comments, blog posts, and discussions on the filesharing site have been illuminating, since I’m used to hearing talk of audiophilia in the arena of Bill Evans’s Complete Riverside Recordings or Steely Dan, neither of which I’m particularly interested in listening to. So when some people say things like, “This sucks. Not worth the download.”, I have to question their allegiance to anything at all. [Not worth the free and illegal download?!] And maybe some people just like Bill Evans more than MBV or like [authentic artist] more than [flashy artist] or vice versa — it doesn’t matter. That’s fine! But somehow (other than the rare classical music snob, who’s usually more measured about his [and it’s always a he] posting on internet message boards) the issue of audio quality has always seemed, paradoxically, to be separate from that musical quality. And it’s cool to me to see the question raised and then sort of waved away very elegantly as above.

What I’m saying is “audiophile” is practically an oxymoron if you think about it.

"Directors do matter, even with huge movies. For example, Jon Favreau, executive producer of The..."

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:17:00 -0400

“

Directors do matter, even with huge movies. For example, Jon Favreau, executive producer of The Avengers, made his name on Swingers, a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the sort of guys we tactfully refer to as “bros.” (Less tactfully, and more correctly, we call them “sexists.”) Accordingly, his Iron Man (2008) is a wish-fulfillment fantasy for bros: booze, boobs, wads of cash, and Gwyneth Paltrow as a shrill, nagging girlfriend who won’t let her man have fun. Favreau’s version of Black Widow, seen in Iron Man 2 (2010), existed largely to make doe eyes at men, obey orders from men and take her clothes off in front of men. Any woman who could sit through it deserves a refund and a Purple Heart.

But for The Avengers, Marvel went with Whedon, a man who spends his spare time scripting benefits for Equality Now. He fought the studio to have Johansson included, specifically because he didn’t want an all-male cast. He cast TV actress Cobie Smulders to avoid having only one female character, and let Smulders, rather than any of the burly famous guys, star in the movie’s first big action sequence.

And, most impressively, once he’d cast some female actors, he actually bothered to write characters for them.

”

- You know who thinks “The Avengers” is pretty feminist and rad, despite its mostly-dudes cast? I think “The Avengers” is pretty feminist and rad, despite its mostly-dudes cast! Now I’m going to tell you about it!

You thought you were prepared for how insufferably into everything I would be, during the Summer of Whedon. YOU WERE NOT PREPARED for how insufferably into everything I am going to be, during the Summer of Whedon. Just so you know.

(via sadybusiness)

Sady on Whedon is a better combination than Pusha T and Pharrell.

—What’s that? Did someone mention money, food, or...

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:59:00 -0400

—What’s that? Did someone mention money, food, or bitches?

—…

—You’re losing my interest.

—…

—I’m just going to, er.

—…

—ZZzzzzZz.

No Trivia @ SPIN: On ZZ Top covering "25 Lighters"

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:26:38 -0400

No Trivia @ SPIN: On ZZ Top covering "25 Lighters":

no-trivia:

Did you see this? ZZ Top covering DJ DMD ft. Lil Keke and Fat Pat’s “25 Lighters.” Obviously, Rick Rubin was involved. This was more just an excuse for me to write about ZZ Top who are one of my favorites bands of all time.

This is awesome. I also love ZZ Top, and this is a good look for them.

kittydothedishes: OKAY CUPID - kitty pryde produced directed...

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:17:00 -0400

kittydothedishes:

OKAY CUPID - kitty pryde

produced directed filmed everything by bryan mckay and shannen ortale

song produced by beautiful lou

STARRING britney m and annie t

i should have washed my hair first

maybe got my makeup done. w/e

To paraphrase a television personality, you really have to love when everything comes together.

I was walking around in the rain last night listening to Pavement by NYU and I was so bored, so I did what I usually do when I’m bored walking around listening to music: I put on Kitty Pryde’s “Justin Bieber” and “okay cupid” on repeat. And then the director of the video for “okay cupid” (above), Bryan McKay drops me a note about how it’s going to premier tomorrow, which is today, and it did!

I feel as if I’m starting to understand the limitations of Clams Casino v1.2 as it’s practiced by Young L, Beautiful Lou (who produced “okay cupid”), and Green Ova Main Attrakionz (whose managers have scooped up Kitty Pryde). But this is still great. I love a little softness to cancel out the Lex Lugar Plenitude of rap beats. Plus, I wish I didn’t even think of the phrase “another white girl rapping” when I first came across KP because she’s not like Kreayshawn (who doesn’t really seem that bad to me) but more like an HTML Giant sincerity artist, which is completely different. Am I mad that VICE wrote about her? Unfortunately, sort of. But the thing is, I’m glad it’s coming together. And as the theme of the day requires: you can pay an artist.

"Moving to New York was also a radical change in our landscape; it’s very different to make something..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:33:22 -0400

“Moving to New York was also a radical change in our landscape; it’s very different to make something in the town where Beyoncé and Joan Rivers live than to make something in the town where Sleater-Kinney live.”

- Progress Report: The Blow (via zachbaron)

I love The Blow, and I’m so excited for a new project.

Kitty Pryde

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:24:16 -0400

I have listened to a song called “Justin Bieber” versus songs by Justin Bieber in a 10:1 ratio. Never has there been such an ode to underage boys since The Symposium.

Boys are like milk, and they expire if you wait on them.

I can’t tell if it’s subversive or merely versive, but I do think it’s great. I’ve listened to it about three times a day on average for the last three weeks. It’s my #musicdiaryproject gift to you because it’s simultaneously music, diary, and project.

You can toss a few ducats to this weird, teenage girl rapper if you want to, and check out her other songs. I recommend “okay cupid”.

"Why, in the long run, would being amateurish be a bad thing for feminist blogs? Why couldn’t it be a..."

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:18:00 -0400

“Why, in the long run, would being amateurish be a bad thing for feminist blogs? Why couldn’t it be a choice – even an implicitly political choice – and not a weakness? If Judy Chicago’s installation artwork “The Dinner Party” is any indication, feminists have no problem with craftiness. We have celebrated amateurism in music – what else was the riot grrrl punk rock movement? – and in publishing. The zines of Third Wave feminism were self-published; so were the mimeographed newsletters of the Second Wave. The ungroomed, the untrained and the unprofessional are celebrated in feminist writing. As they should be: A movement can hardly encourage women to reach their untapped potential if it doesn’t recognize and value potential that has been, you know, untapped.”

- So, hey! I have gotten really kind feedback for this piece on the aesthetics of feminist blogging. Which is nice. The piece sort of sets out to vindicate the bits of the genre that other people (including myself!) have taken issue with; the lack of grooming in the prose, the aggressiveness and earnestness, our tendency to sit down and process and/or argue with each other rather than cultivating archness or detachment. I hope I made a convincing argument for it? If not, I am sure you will let me know! (via sadybusiness)

“Lack of grooming” among feminist (prose)? Unheard of! Hah! But this is really good. Well-groomed, I think. Definitely well-argued.