Salem continues to enrapture the underground. This is one of those times when I can’t help but think that hipsters rally around a band or sound simply because they know that it will never make it mainstream, and therefore never lose its cred. Don’t think I am hating, there is a compelling inspiration behind making “goth-electro-juke.” And after that crazy music video and intense interview in Butt Magazine with singer John Holland, it is no wonder this trio (yes they are a trio and the 3rd is a lady and no one has ever bothered to ask her anything, WTF) of artists are making a splash. I was even further intrigued when I found John’s flickr page.
Stereogum has been all up on the Patrick Wolf news, giving us scoop by scoop of happenings with the freshly blonde’s ambition. His new album, The Bachelor comes out June 1st, and its first single “Vulture” comes out April 20th. A pretty dope remix is already making the rounds and a corresponding video will have all the gay blogs talking very soon. Featuring a leather and latex clad (jockstrap alert!) Wolf, there is, in fact, butt crack in this video. There is also, after you get over his really nice butt crack, a good, tormented-electro song playing while he shiggles and rakes all over the bed. Another tidbit: Tilda Swinton will be on one of the Bachelor tracks. Yup. Download below, the vid above is NSFW.
This week I got a nice note from TPR pal Kingdom about his new mixtape. Exclusively for Lower End Spasm, this fine blend of Freestyle, Hip Hop, Electro, House, and R & B keeps it on and poppin’ the way only a true banjee boy can. What I really like about Kingdom’s style is his ability to balance bass lines and melody riffs. Both bounce, ride, and snake but never get to that unbearable epic, ravey vibe that bogs down so much new dance music. Tracklist below, cover art above, spring time is here and Kingdom is helping shake our asses out of that winter depression. Get over to Lower End Spasm to download here.
01 – TIM DOLLA – Number Advisory
02 – KINGDOM – Mindreader ft. Shyvonne
03 – FR3E – Tribal Skank
04 – ROSKA – Elevated Level (Kingdom Edit ft. Brandy)
05 – VJUAN ALLURE – I Said Come On Elements
06 – KINGDOM – YOU
07 – SHAUN-D – Pullup
08 – SHAUN-D – Boeke
09 – SHAUN-D – Full Up Class
10 – MISTER RIES – Sugar (Kill Frenzy Remix)
11 – KILL FRENZY – Uuuh!
12 – BLACKBOX – I Don’t Know (Kingdom Remix)
13 – DEXPLICIT – Judas
14 – JAZMINE SULLIVAN – Need U Bad (Scottie B Remix)
16 – KINGDOM – That Mystic VIP
So in case you didn’t know, gay men can be sluts. But you know what? Sluts can be gay too. Coming across iTrick.org, however, I had never been more convinced of gay men’s own, unique sluttiness. iTrick claims to be the spread-sheetable solution to the spread-leg confusion that arises when you get an email or text that says “free 2 nite?” and you have no idea who that person is. Or, it can save you some time when you are cruising and you are not sure if you have spoken to this person before (NOT at all a sign that you should leave the house more, NO). Freeware for taking off your underwear, this is the kind of internet age we are in: a system design based on the assumption of intimacy through the impersonal. Download at your own risk, I’m enjoying just the mere idea that this exists. The shockingly realistic Features list after the jump. Read the rest of this entry ?
And when I say the Magnetic Fields, I mean Stephen Merritt. A new Puma shoe line will have MF’s “Underwear” as its soundtrack, and Britta Phillips kicks in some counter vocals. BUT I WILL COMPLAIN that they stripped this song of all the gay, just for some shoes!? Oh Mini-Miss Merritt, every time you take the gay out of one of your songs, a stripper loses his thong ®. This must have been the economy’s doing.
In more integrity-infused news, Stephin Merritt will be contributing his talents to the stage production of Coraline. Not 3D, but thREAL-D. From House Of Tomorrow:
Tickets for the stage adaption of Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline,” with music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt, will go on sale Monday, March 23 via the MCC Theater website. The production — a collaboration between Merritt, director Leigh Silverman, and writer/actor David Greenspan — begins a special limited engagement run on May 7 – June 20 at New York City’s Lucille Lortel Theatre.
From March 23 to April 12 single price tickets to any performance will be available at the special price of $39. (Regular ticket prices start at $65.) To purchase tickets at the discounted price, apply the promotional code CLHT upon checkout at the MCC Theater website. There is a limit of eight tickets per order. Availability is subject to change.
A friend send over a link to the new Pet Shop Boys video and I went looking for information about the new record Yes. Their website is really done up with streams and vids and all kinds of archives. You gotta know these queens have been rocking the Top 40 airwaves with their queeny Top 40 sound since the early 1980′s. A new effort from them always stirs up some press, but the real story these days is the PSB remixes. From MGMT to the Scissor Sisters, Tennant and Lowe have all kinds of cool friends and no doubt the best part of Yes will be who among their hipster buddies chips in for the glory. Head over to the site and stream samples of the album, and get some fun facts about their history. (Today’s was: on this day in 2002, “Home and Dry” was released. TPR says that was the last great PSB song) Video for “Love, etc.” the new single above.
The blogs are all finally catching on to Palms Out discovery Fagget Fairys. When the first round of 12″s came out, I didn’t read about them too much, despite it being an important step in digital music history that an mp3 blog was putting out a vinyl record. Long since sold out, you waiters are getting a break because at the end of this month, when Fagget Fairys’ debut Feed the Horse comes out, Palms Out will be reissuing the “Samo Ti” single. WOOOOO! On March 30th the myth that lesbians don’t like dance music will finally be laid to rest, you’ll be able to buy (yes, PURCHASE, with cash dollas) it via Music For Dreams. Until then, you can get the first single below.
Just kidding. But look at this photo from a recent show! If not Lady Gaga, then definitely Uma Therman in Final Analysis. Anyway, he’s gearing up for his new albumS and if this twinky British drama queen can hold it all together for another few more years, he might make it big. Two records are expected from Wolf, the first LP The Bachelor is due on 6/1, followed by The Conqueror next year, and eventually a double-disc repackage under the title Battle.
It’s not a secret how much I love Ssion. Almost two years after its completion, the band is still riding high off of the success of their last album Fool’s Gold. Leader and visionary Cody Critcheloe has really been taking advantage of the attention on the record and the richness of material embedded in the songs to flesh out his talents as a video director. This video for the song “Bullshit” is no exception (I’m counting 8th music vid, not to mention all the out-takes and snippets, there is supposed to be a tour documentary in the works) to the rule that all Ssion videos are fun, edgy, sexy and queered. From the many set pieces to the “backing band” Waiting 2 Exhale (composed of Madonna, Roseanne and Courtney Love), Critcheloe’s love for art, the Woman, and comedy is a pleasure to behold. Check out an “interview” with the backing band below.
I don’t know about y’all, but these days when I hear about a new Peaches album, I get a little scared. Don’t get me wrong, the lady has done a lot for sex. As in, she has single handedly allowed hipsters to talk about it, and be a little sore when they walk the walk about it. I was able to interview her during the Fatherfucker tour, and let me tell you: she has strong vision and nothing but love for anyone with a freeness about sexuality. HOWEVER Impeach My Bush, her last record, mostly collapsed under her own weight, and I was beginning to doubt. The sounds started dating themselves, and I was worried it would be the end. But I wouldn’t want an indie scene without her! THANK GOD she started remixing, because her remixes have been stellar. This week, it was with great relief that I read she was letting some new blood into her labia-fold, and here come Drums Of Death. Tourmates and album contributors for Peaches circa 2009, it is always good news when a veteran gets a youngsta she inspired to help out. It’s like the sexual circle if life. Drums Of Death is from the UK and released a Peaches inspired mixtape that embeds the new song “I Feel Cream,” the title track of the record (hint: some hot shit starts right around the middle and continues right at the end).
Download below, tour dates and album track list after the jump. I Feel Cream is out May 5th on XL Recordings.
