New Music: Kanye West - Stronger (Daft Punk Remix)

All I can say is wow. While normally I'm not too keen on Kanye, this track could be one of the years best hip hop singles.
Oh also the video is really cool.

Kanye West - Stronger

New Music: Spice Up Your Life...Again?

In a totally uncalled for move, it seems the spice girls are getting back together...

Let's just hope they don't release a new album...
Oh and in case you want a full frontal of the '07 edition of the girls

Under Review: The White Stripes - Icky Thump

Oh my fucking god! They're back!

Remember when you excitedly downloaded your advanced copy of Get Behind Me Satan only to discover that the White Stripes had gotten all sucky? I promise - Icky Thump makes up for it 10 fold. Perhaps their strongest LP, Icky Thump combines the best moments from pre-Satan White Stripes and takes simultaneously takes their sound a step further.

Yeah, the band's strong suit has always been the combo of Jack's amazingly great guitar and Meg's verging-on-retarded simple drumming - but Icky Thump incorporates more complex instrumentation that they were trying to use is Satan without neutering their signature sound.

What you end up with is 13 tracks that are not just great sounding but are complex AND rock REALLY hard.

Needless to say - this LP is up among the year's best.

Icky Thump is out June 19.

Admit One: Datarock/Busdriver/CSS 06/04/07 + mp3 bonus

I was covered in sweat...icky sticky sweat.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First up was Datarock and despite that I'm fairly certain only 1/4 (or less) of the crowd knew any of their songs they still had the sold out crowd dancing and singing along (with helpful cues given mid-song). In their signature red jumpsuits they definitely were worth showing up early for. Honestly, I wish more opening bands were this good..they nearly stole the show.

Busdriver was next up...and sadly didn't fare as well. While I've seen him before and usually love his live shows - he just seemed off. While his set was was far from bad he was defiantly a let down after the crazy goodness of Datarock.

As good as Datarock was, CSS stole the show back and woke everyone up and got people dancing again. Complete with costume changes, crazy Brazilian accents, and weird but fantastic b-sides (check out the mp3s below) CSS was everything you'd expect from hearing their cd. And while Lovefoxxx didn't have a freakout and run around in the audience like she did last time I saw her she was still ab-fab.


Mp3: CSS - Pretend We're Dead (L7 cover)
Mp3: CSS - I Wanna Be Your J-Lo


Picture of Datarock by Pamela Willis
More photos