There’s a reason I don’t write for any of our neighbouringgamessites — I have the hand-eye co-ordination of someone with no eyes. Or hands. This assessment of my gaming skillz was confirmed when I tried out the Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock widget, which was kindly forwarded to me by Dan on Tech Digest.
Really it’s just a case of pressing buttons, but it was still beyond me. However, if you fancy having a go at songs by Alice Cooper, Living Color or, er, Lions, be my guest and have a bash over the page. Don’t come to me when you get rock-related carpal tunnel syndrome, though.
In these days of digital music I wonder if some young whippersnappers even realise that albums have cover art. For there was a time, younglings, when the album cover, along with the sleevenotes, was part of an overall package to be cherished. Now? Not so much.
However there are plenty of folk out there who have gained inspiration from classic album covers, and, the internet being the internet, there’s a rather good site dedicated to appraising cover art over the years.
Festival season is but a couple of short months away, readers, which means minds are gradually turning to a) what tickets you should be buying; b) how you’re going to afford them; and c) what designer teepee you should choose.
OK, so designer teepees aren’t what you might have traditionally associated with Glasto over the years, but don’t forget we’re in an age of “glamping” (eesh) now. With folk such as handbag designer Orla Kiely producing all manner of funky retro-themed festival bitsandbobs, it’s no great surprise to see more designers getting in on the act.
Comic book mash-ups/reimaginings appear to be this year’s LOLcats or something. And you can bet that this site’s application of Pulp’s “Common People” lyrics to The Archies is going to lead to all manner of music/comic combinations.
Do the frames make sense with the lyrics inserted? Not really. That’s what makes the whole thing funnier, innit. Sadly I think the claim at the end that The Archies will return in “This Is Hardcore” is just a joke.
Whatever, I would hereby like to place my order for The Beano as reworded by Megadeath, and Jackie photo-stories defiled with Peaches lyrics. Then stop before we get bored with the whole thing. Thanks.
Read the whole “Common People”/The Archies thingy thing thing at Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog
[via Idolator]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Friday March 14th, 2008 at
11:50 am
A few years back, I proclaimed to a table of utterly uninterested friends that Annie was going to be a massive popstar within twelve months. I am glad the friends weren’t really listening, because I was just about as wrong as it’s possible to be.
However, Annie did get a fair amount of blog loving, and her track “Heartbeat” from debut album Anniemal even got Pitchfork’s Single Of The Year award for 2004. Basically, since then everyone who tipped her the first time around has been waiting for to come back and prove them right.
And now she is back-ish. A clip of the song “Girlfriend” has surfaced on her MySpace, and it’s a pleasing dose of Richard X-produced electro-pop topped by Annie’s typically fragile falsetto. Good to hear she hasn’t become a baritone over the last few years, then. Go here to give the clip a listen – with an album slated for April more stuff should surface soon…
[via Popjustice]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Thursday March 6th, 2008 at
10:42 am
Leading indie brainwashers (I kid, I kid) Pitchfork are all set to launch Pitchfork.tv next month. First thought: will their verbal output be as impenetrable as their written content? Stereogum have a pretty impressive list of details regarding the type of stuff you can expect to feast your eyes and ears on when the channel hits your monitor. It looks like we’re talking full-length concerts, documentaries, classic live footage, interviews, unique collaborations…
What the hell would we do without the internet, eh? I mean, with no cybertubes I’d need your address to send you this post after writing it on paper, for one thing – and I’m not sure it would be worth the postage cost, to be honest.
Another thing the internet is good for – thanks to coveringthemouse.com – is providing you with a very comprehensive collection of Disney cover versions. They’ve got the lot. “I Wanna Be Like You”, as performed by Los Lobos? And also as performed by Smashmouth? And also as performed by, er, Voodoo Glow Skulls? Got those.
Ah, you’re looking for “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” as covered by punk snots The Vandals? Step right in.
You get the idea. See what else they’ve got by checking out their site.
[via Boing Boing]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Tuesday February 26th, 2008 at
2:23 pm
As a nipper, I loved Smash Hits. Obviously, these were the days before I deemed all pop naff, meaningless fluff, and became a surly indie brat. Nowadays I’m quite happy to drift along between the two sensibilities. But enough about me. Over the weekend I encountered The Lipster, a pop culture site produced by an all-female line-up of writers. One of their contributors is Sylvia Patterson, who I remember from the good old Smash Hits days.
Patterson has only written a few features so far for The Lipster (at least, I don’t think they’ve appeared elsewhere), but for music fans they’re all well worth reading. One takes a look at the good old days of The Brits, when Smash Hits reporters would mingle with rock behemoths during the ceremony, and mischievously approach them with questions such as “Are you sure you haven’t left the iron on?”
What’s you favourite duet? Mine is “Opposites Attract”, by Paula Abdul and MC Scat Cat. For some hellish reason, this number does not show up on RetroCrush’s otherwise very impressive collection of The 25 Greatest Duets Of All Time.
So what will you find on the list? It’s a wide-ranging one, for sure. Nestling next to Neil Diamond & Barbara Streisand you’ll find John Lydon & Afrika Bambaataa, for instance. Now there’s a supergroup I’d like to see. And obviously you’ll find Dolly and Kenny – pictured above at their post-fight press conference – in there as well. RetroCrush have very kindly provided videos for each and every song they cover, so you could pretty much spend the rest of the day on there if you have nothing better to do. But when you’re done, do check out Abdul & Scat Cat. She don’t like cigarettes but he likes to smoke, you know.
[via Pop Candy]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Friday February 22nd, 2008 at
11:02 am
Like you, and me, and everyone we know, our sister Cate at terrific ladyblog Dollymix is big fan of Amy Winehouse. And like most folk – although perhaps not tabloid newspaper editors – she was delighted to see La Wino back on some kind of form at last night’s Brits. She’s been quick off the mark as far as video goes as well, so I’m blatantly nicking this video of “Love Is A Losing Game” from her site. Thanks Cate!
There’s a reason I don’t write for any of our neighbouring games sites — I have the hand-eye co-ordination of someone with no eyes. Or hands. This assessment of my gaming skillz was confirmed when I tried out the Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock widget, which was kindly forwarded to me by Dan on Tech Digest.
What the hell would we do without the internet, eh? I mean, with no cybertubes I’d need your address to send you this post after writing it on paper, for one thing – and I’m not sure it would be worth the postage cost, to be honest.
As a nipper, I loved 
