Archives

Archives / 2010 / December

  • A double dose of deluxe editions: Weezer and Wings

    Dec 31 2010 2:54 AM

    After coming off its single-stacked, Blue Album debut, Weezer threw fans for a loop with the darker and edgier Pinkerton (Geffen). However, after a decade and a half worth of digestion, it’s become such a fan favorite that the band is dedicating a 2011 tour to performing the disc in its entirety. To coincide with that very outing, the label just remastered the initial undertaking (which already sounded strong since it was just released in 1996), tacking on a slew of b-sides, live tracks and rough cuts.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Fidget Content, News, Reviews

  • "The Fighter" is one of the year's best films

    Dec 28 2010 5:38 PM

    During a particularly bleak holiday movie release schedule, David O. Russell’s The Fighter stands out as a real gem. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale star as, respectively, Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, boxing half-brothers from the working class town of Lowell, Massachusetts. As the film commences, Micky is struggling to get his career going. He’s lost a couple of fights, and Dicky and his mother Alice (Mellissa Leo) continue to try to get him into high profile fights.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Reviews

  • Digging Underneath The Mythology: The Danger Days of My Chemical Romance

    Dec 28 2010 5:01 AM

    It's 2019. The city you're living in is completely homogenized. It's a plain of utopian uniformity, a metropolis of very few risks but even fewer rewards. You're safe, but you're bored, too. There's no danger anymore, but there's no daring either. Fear has been eradicated, but so has freedom. And at the head of this tedious existence is Better Living Industries, an oxymoron if there ever was one: a promise of a better life, yet only within strictly-defined parameters. So if you're looking for thrills and chaos and excitement and unpredictability… well, this isn't place for you.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • The Best of the Rest: The Year End Lists You May Have Missed

    Dec 28 2010 4:55 AM

    By Matthew Perpetua

    December 27, 2010 3:14 PM EDT
    One of the best thing about the annual deluge of year-end lists is that it’s a very effective way to catch up on all the music you may have missed the first time around because you were either too busy to pay attention — or just couldn’t tear yourself away from a few favorites. 

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • Hear/Say Store Spotlight: Kanye on vinyl, A belated George Michael Christmas

    Dec 28 2010 2:34 AM

    The vinyl rage continues with Kanye West’s new My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam), which earns a deluxe triple LP packaging. This limited edition affair includes all the savvy hip-hop from the CD edition (complete with guest stars Nikki Minaj, Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon), though it’s also beefed up with full album notes and frameable artwork.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: News, Reviews

  • Listen to Gorillaz's 'The Fall' Now

    Dec 27 2010 5:04 AM

    As promised, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz project has a new album available, The Fall. According to the liner notes, the 15-track iPad-made record features musical contributions from regular Albarn partners in crime Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Bobby Womack. Head over to Gorillaz' website to stream the record (you'll have to part with your name and e-mail); apparently, a download of the record is only available for fanclub members for now. Check out the tracklist below.

    The Fall:01 Phoner to Arizona 02 Revolving Doors 03 HillBilly Man 04 Detroit 05 Shy-Town 06 Little Pink Plastic Bags 07 The Joplin Spider 08 The Parish of Space Dust 09 The Snake in Dallas 10 Amarillo 11 The Speak It Mountains 12 Aspen Forest 13 Bobby in Phoenix 14 California and the Slipping of the Sun 15 Seattle Yodel

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • The Year in News 2010

    Dec 27 2010 5:03 AM

    Pitchfork's Year in News feature is a whirlwind tour through the past twelve months of our section. From Jay Reatard's death in January through the Gorillaz iPad album release on Christmas Day, 2010 was full of ups and downs, twists and turns, reunions and breakups, triumphs and disappointments, NSFW and OMG moments. There were crazy melting face masks and bodily fluids, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, truffle fries and pigeon shit, weed grinders and killer bales of hay. And then there was Kanye West, who could probably fill an entire Year in News feature by himself. And then we get to do it all again next year!

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • Coen Brothers remake benefits from its witty dialogue

    Dec 24 2010 5:15 AM

    I haven’t seen the 1969 Western upon which the Coen Brothers’ True Grit is based. But I have to imagine the characters didn’t speak in the stilted language they use in this version. And yet that’s part of what makes the Coens’ film work so well. Filled with double entendres and astute observations about life's struggles, the dialogue is fantastic. The movie centers on the precocious 14-year-old bookkeeper Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld). She wants to avenge her father’s murder and seeks out the help of Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a US Marshall who’s known to spend a bit too much time at the saloon.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Reviews

  • Listen: Classic Frank Zappa Live Track

    Dec 24 2010 4:42 AM

    By Andy Greene

    December 21, 2010 1:55 PM EDT
    Frank Zappa — a close collaborator of Captain Beefheart, who passed away last week — would have been 70 years old today. To celebrate the occasion, his estate is releasing a three CD concert set taped at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1978. The shows were the source of some tracks on 1979s Sheik Yerbouti, but the complete unedited show hasn't been available until now. Click below to hear an exclusive version of "City of Tiny Lites" from the new collection. It features King Crimson's Adrian Belew on rhythm guitar, Terry Bozzio on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass, Tommy Mars on keyboards, Peter Wolf on keyboards and Ed Mann on percussion.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • Vince Guaraldi Is More Than 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'

    Dec 24 2010 4:39 AM

    Every year, I bust out the soundtrack to 'A Charlie Brown Christmas,' and it gets me in the holiday spirit. I've done different stories about the anniversary of the album's release and I've even written some about others like David Benoit and George Winston tackling Vince Guaraldi's work. But instead of just celebrating this Christmas and jazz classic once again, I think that its time to look a little deeper into the genius of Vince Guaraldi.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • The jazzy holiday tradition continues to top itself

    Dec 24 2010 2:48 AM

    Thirteen is far from an unlucky number for Dave Koz, who celebrates that very anniversary of his collaborative holiday tour this year, which comes on the heels of a recent star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and new label deal with the legendary Concord Records (Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, Chick Corea and countless others). The sax man’s optimistically leaning new record Hello Tomorrow had no trouble blending in with holiday tunes of past and present, supported by yet another all-star cast of fellow contemporary jazz greats at a sold out Chicago Theatre (which sported the perfect balance of intimacy of elegance for the evening).

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Fidget Content, Reviews

  • Kanye, Lebron bask in "All of the Lights"

    Dec 23 2010 6:48 PM

    [caption id="attachment_8191" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="Look at me! No, me!"][/caption]

    It’s been about two weeks since Lebron James has made his vaunted returned to play his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, after disrespecting the team and the city with his media disaster The Decision  on ESPN this summer. (Not a disaster?  With the exception of Nike, when was the last time you saw James in an ad?).  I just received my promo copy of Kanye West’s latest CD, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and I wish I would have had it for the Lebron James return.   My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the perfect “look at me” soundtrack for professional sports’ most “look at me” athlete.

    It could be argued that “All of the Lights,” the best song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was written with James—or at least a James persona—in mind.   Kanye was present at The Decision, and the spectacle and attention probably ultimately influenced the song.

    Read more...

    2 Comments

    Tags: Reviews

  • Sharon Jones Got There the Hard Way

    Dec 23 2010 4:55 AM

    In a better world, as James Brown once sang, 'Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto.' Sharon Jones, who was born in Brown's hometown, Augusta, Ga., grew up singing and dancing to the city's Soul Brother Number One. At Christmastime, the young girl had a practical question for her mother: How does Santa get the toys into the poor kids' apartments?

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • Ramones to Receive Lifetime Achievement Grammy

    Dec 23 2010 4:53 AM

    Punk pioneers the Ramones are set to receive their first Grammy award when the gongs are given out next February -- a mere 14 years since the group last played a note together, reports Billboard.com. The award ceremony is likely to prove a bittersweet experience given that drummer Tommy Ramone -- real name Thomas Erdelyi -- is the last surviving member of the original line-up. Singer Joey, guitarist Johnny and bassist Dee Dee died within three years of each at the turn of the century.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews

  • SWSX 2011: Initial Lineup Revealed

    Dec 21 2010 5:14 AM

    This March, thousands of artists will head to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW festival, and the organizers have already released the preliminary lineup of acts. As usual, the event features a wide array of new and old genre-spanning artists.

    Read more...

    0 Comments

    Tags: Widget News Reviews