(photo thanks to stereogum)

What is going on lately? Ever since the Grammy’s there have been various musicians taking stabs at each other. Pop star vs. Pop Star, Indie Star vs Indie Star, Pop Star vs Indie Stars. First, we had Chris Brown beating the shit out of his girl, Rihanna. (and apparently they are back together now…wtf?) Then we had Kanye complaining that Thom Yorke “snubbed” him backstage at the Grammys. Which resulted in him “sitting the fuck down” once Radiohead took the stage.

Well yesterday Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips reportedly ripped on Arcade Fire. During a phone interview with Rolling Stone Wayne Coyne had the following to say about Win Butler and the rest of the gang:

“I’m a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness … We’ve played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit. Whenever I’ve been around them, I’ve found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, ‘Who do they think they are?’ I don’t know why people put up with it. I wouldn’t put up with it. I don’t care if it’s Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like shit I’d be like, ‘Fuck you, get outta here.’

… People treat Arcade Fire like they’re the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so fuck ‘em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? I’ve been around groups. I’ve been around the Edge from U2 and he’s the fucking sweetest guy ever. I was around Justin Timberlake when he was young and he was just a normal, nice, kind person. Anyone can be polite and kind and people who have the privilege and money and attention should understand that. If they don’t, then fuck ‘em.”

Then later that night, Win Bulter responded to Wayne with the following message on the Arcade Fire website:

“Wow,
I can’t believe I am actually writing to defend my band’s “real” personality. I wish I could not respond to something like this, but the reality is, is that people will be asking me questions for the next 5 years. I also fear that people will base their opinion of our band on the media quotes of a guy who doesn’t even know us.

The only time we have ever shared a stage with the Flaming Lips was our last show on the Funeral tour at a festival in Las Vegas (over 3 years ago)…we arrived the morning of the show from Brazil, slept all day and awoke into some kind of surreal Vegas jet-lag dream in which we were playing after the Flaming Lips…how strange…I was really excited to meet Wayne. Clouds Taste Metallic was a huge record for me, and growing up in the weirdness of Houston, I always imagined Oklahoma City to be in the same universe. I was really nervous to meet him and I felt a little weird that we were playing after them. We traded a little hello, but he was a hard guy to get a read on. Steven Drodz was super nice, and I felt good after talking to him…

So…I am not sure Wayne is the best judge (based on seeing us play at a couple of festivals) if we are righteous, kind and goodhearted people like The Edge and Justin Timberlake (who I am sure he knows intimately as well). I can’t imagine a reason why we would have been pompous towards The Flaming Lips, a band we have always loved, on that particular night, all those years ago. Unless I was way more jet-lagged then I remember, I hope I was less of a “Prick” then telling Rollingstone that a bunch of people I don’t know at all are really a bunch of assholes.
As a closing note, the main point that I am offended by in this whole thing is for Wayne to say we treat our audience like shit…

At times like these I am comforted by knowing that even though Wayne slammed Beck all those years ago, he seems like a really nice guy to me. I guess everyone has a different idea of what being pompous means.

Win”

Ok let me say that I am a fan of both bands. Arcade Fire are one of my true favorites though. Despite that, I think Wayne sort of came off as a douche. Win followed up with a appropiate response.

Lets get back to Radiohead. Apparently people (a.k.a. big name artists) are not done ripping on the beloved Radiohead. It isn’t Kanye again, rather it is….Miley Cyrus. She actually had the nerve to go on the radio and say that she is out to “ruin Radiohead“. Apparently the disney star loves Radiohead so much that she would freak out and cry if she got to meet them. Wait…she loves Radiohead??? I guess I need to re-evaluate her music. I missed the Thom Yorke influences in her tunes. Her manager tried to get Miley a special “chill session” with Radiohead and when the band declined her offer saying “We don’t really do that”. The pop princess probably hasn’t heard no in a decade so now she is going to whine about it. If she admires the band so much she should know how private Thom and the rest of the band can be. I am sure they really care about what she thinks.

Gotta love drama huh?

[mp3] : Radiohead -Videotape

[mp3] : Arcade Fire – Intervention

[mp3] : Flaming Lips – The W.A.N.D.

[mp3] : Kanye West -Robocop (VH1 Storytellers)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have put up a demo of their new song “Statues” on their website. The song is actually about to premiere on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, but the band posted it a bit earlier than expected. After one listen I really like it. God it has been some time since they first emerged onto the indie scene! Can they regain their blog buzz? I will certainly try to get things going for them. Here is the demo, tell me what you think:

[mp3] : Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Statues

Checking my email today it was quite a unique collection of messages. A press release from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a few notices of comments of my posts, an email completely in french (thanks), twitter messages, etc… Nothing really caught my attention until I read an email titled “My name is Three Leaves and a Head – Remixes – Radiohead.” For whatever reason I was very interested in hearing this. Of all the remix emails I picked this one. It was a very personalized one. I like that:

My name’s Three Leaves and a Head

I’m from Paris, France

I play the piano

I like Hachis Parmentier and inner landscapes

I’m doing other stuff

I’m doing songs

Ok personally I cannot stand the Fray. I don’t think I need to elaborate. If you are confused as to why I am not a fan of their work, just flashback a few years ago when their songs were getting raped by every single radio station. It was not a memorable point of my life to say the least……..Sorry for the rant, I’m in an odd mood…..

However, I can stand Kanye West. That is false, he is actually one of my favorite artists today. The Fray actually did some good and covered Kanyes awesome “Heartlesss”. It isn’t the best cover around but it is enjoyable enough. Although the photo of Kanye that I posted may beg to differ? Well, take a stab at it:

[mp3] : The Fray – Heartless (Kanye West Cover)

That’s right we got another contest set up! For a little blog we have actually managed to have 2 contests!! (craaazy right?) Once again we are working with the powerhouse music store known as insound! Last time we teamed up with them to give away an exclusive Handsome Furs t-shirt and free album download!

However, this time we are here to give you a shot at an exclusive Thermals shirt designed by Bwana Spoons. The winner of the shirt will also win a free download of The Thermal’s new album “Now We Can See”, which will be delivered to the winner via email on the album’s release date (4/09). How bad ass is that? Plus you get the whole album for free! (The album is going to be killer, I can tell!!!!) I love the Thermals so much that I may just have to sign up 100 times as a bunch of different names just so the sick shirt is all mine! I mean, I only would be fighting against what, 4 people? Ok I will stop being so modest!

Anyway you should sign up for the contest right now because free stuff is always good. Plus, there are only 50 of this shirts floating around! Indie-tastic! I will pick a winner on the 13th! So….get to it:

sign up for the contest right now!!!!

[mp3] : The Thermals – Now We Can See

Finally a video of one of the new songs that Grizzly Bear played at BAM the other day. It is called “Dory” and it is some jaw dropping stuff. Another track from “Veckatimest” = more proof that it is going to be a phenomenal album. Gotta love Ed’s harmonies, it’s always some beautiful stuff. Check out the video below and grab a mp3:

[mp3] : Grizzly Bear – Dory (Live at BAM)

Have you forgotten about Art Brut? It seemed like their 2nd album was passed by mostly everyone including myself. After dropping an amazing debut it seemed like people were dissapointed with their new material.Well they are back again with their new album “Art Brut vs. Satan” which was produced by Frank Black. Pitchfork was kind enough to post the first track off the album “Alcoholics Unanimous”. After a few quick spins I do like it quite a bit. Gotta love Eddie Argos.

[mp3] : Art Brut – Alcoholics Unanimous (removed to the labels request)

here is a bonus song that RCRD LBL posted that didn’t make the album. Cool bass line! Worth a listen for sure :

[mp3] : Art Brut – Just Desserts(removed to the labels request)

The album drops in the U.S. on May 12th.

Well first of all I should say Daniel Rossen of the amazing Grizzly Bear. He covered the teen pop stars’ (one hit wonder?) hit single “Too Little Too Late”. Of all bands I would have never suspected Grizzly Bear to cover this. Anyway on Feb 14th the band played a small show at the New Yorker Speakeasy. Daniel covered the song solo and I got a video for your viewing pleasure. Daniel manages to take a song way out of his genre and make it into something special. Once again here is more proof at why we all heart GB:

[mp3] : Grizzly Bear – Too Little Too Late (JoJo Cover)

Well we finally have the first Green Day song in the post “American Idiot” era. With their new album “21st Century Breakdown” ready to come out soon, the first track of the same name has found its way online. I was curious as to what type of direction the band would be heading in, but it still seems to be pretty arena based. You will notice a few parts that are very The Who & Queen influenced. One part sounds like a direct influence from “Bohemian Rhapsody”. I feel like the song really hits its stride in the 2nd half.

Overall I am happy with it, but I was not completely blown away. It does sorta sound like it could have been off of “American Idiot”. With that said, this song will not make any of the “American Idiot” haters come back to their once beloved band. However, the song could work a lot better when it is surrounded by the rest of the album. Lets get on with it, they have come a long way since “Dookie”.

I will keep listening and hoping that the band can keep giving me reasons to still back them up. Give it a shot below fast, I am sure this will be gone very fast:

[mp3] : Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown

21st Century Breakdown hits stores in May

I haven’t really been following too many music videos. They are cool to watch every now and then but with all the music that is around these days its hard to find time to track down all those music videos. However every now and then I get curious to see how a song will be represented visually. One of my fav tracks off Death Cab’s latest album “Narrow Stairs” was the dark “Grapevine Fires”. When I saw that a video came out for it I couldn’t help but check it out. It is one of the more entertaining videos that I have seen as of late, really representing the song well visually. It’s pretty sad, but that is what DCFC went for here:

[mp3] : Death Cab For Cutie – Grapevine Fires