a grim forcast

jack white is a bad ass. you know that, i know that. that's why i think we can all expect sick things from his new super group, the dead weather. we'll see him along side the kill's frontwoman alison mosshart, queens of the stone age guitarist dean fertita, and, the raconteurs bassist, jack lawrence. "hang you up from the heavens", the bands first single, starts off with a simple drum beat and the groan of an analog synth, reminiscent of both the kills early work and the beloved "icky thump", until it breaks and the hardrock heart of the group crashes through. its b-side is a cover of gary numan's "are friends electric?" which does more then justice to its predecessor as mosshart's reverberating vocals and a woozy organ soar over a fuzzed-out axe and bludgeoning beats.

i predict their full length, to be released on on white's new personal label (fuck yeah), third man records, will be better then last years release by the raconteurs, because, really the world doesn't need another more pseudo-glam rock album.

bring on the rock, not journey.

ctrl '09 collection

ctrl just released its lookbook forspring/summer 09. i saw sneak peeks a while back from this finnish company and loved it. pop art tones and early nineties designs blend together to make a completely original collection. they're bringing back the jean-shorts, baggy slacks, and horizontal stripes in a way that i could see myself wearing. i could also see those trunks covering me as soon as the sun creeps its way back to the evergreen state.

animals on parade

panda bear and the boys (sans deakin) are back on the road and aren't planing on stopping any time soon. from march til june, animal collective will play songs night after night from their 9th studio album merriweather post pavillion from oslo, norway to (hopefully) sasquatch festival in in george, wa. if my wishes are granted, we'll see them slip into the studio between their nonstop rock to record a song recently premiered in london,
blue sky (a tentative title). this track starts off with a reminder of older portishead and even a little moby, soaring and reverberating samples kept in time by a looping cymbal crash. i can only hope a studio version brings out the bass, an aspect of the new album highlighted on tracks like daily routine and bluish.


in other news: we have a new president and dick cheney scares the shit out of me more then ever, the wheelchair only adding to the evil genius look he's been going for the last 8 years. its astounding how profound stanley kubrick's effect on the world is; i mean, the ex-vice president's even taking notes.

beasts of beauty

makeup monsters are a band from tacoma, wa. i ran into them while browsing the bands that made it into sound off! instead of us, and, honestly, these guys deserved it more. i've been on a drummer/guitarist binge ever since i got into harlem in the late 2008. makeup monster fills a few gaps for that those guys didn't. a little less punk, a little more pop, i've caught myself whistling their hooks repeatedly over the last few days. check out calamine on their myspace, its bomb.