Jack & The Juggalos: Roll Over, Baby

It’s a big stretch between Loretta Lynn and the Insane Clown Posse, but you know Jack White – he’s a guy who can ape Son House while singing a tune called “I Fought Pirhanas.” So maybe, just maybe, he can convince us that Mozart’s ode to the back door, as rapped by Thing 1 and Thing 2 below, will be fun for a few moments. Mr. White produced. “Leck Mich Im Arsch” doesn’t need much explanation, but with Sinead O’Connor reveling in the needs of the be-hind this week as well, I’m wondering about upcoming trend pieces. Oh well, your body is a wonderland said that other young blues man.

Summer Song 2011: Devilish Flow, Like Draino

Sales figures don’t determine a song’s popularity at our house. It’s all about usefulness ’round here. Can the track provide a fun background for various parts of the day? In other words, is it versatile? There’s no question about this summer’s numero uno: LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” was the consensus choice because it worked in myriad situations. Chopping onions for backyard burgers, taking a shower before date night, bumping and grinding during date night, morning clean-up, evening dance bash – I even caught my kid vacuuming to the damn thing.

The season’s most ubiquitous track has generated several spin-offs as well. Tired of the original? How about a few remixes to mess with your head? Everyday I’m (re)shuffling…

What, you say the “Anthem” isn’t the song of the summer? Well, go ahead, tell everyone which track you chopped your backyard onions to!

Wave Your Wild Flag A Week Early

“Sound is the blood between me and you,” sings Carrie Brownstein on the lead track from Wild Flag’s debut disc. As the words spill from her throat a classic rock parallel crops up. The famed indie rock queen from the Great Northwest is talking about the depth of a friendship and the elements that bind two pals. It’s not unlike Springsteen’s “we like the same music, we like the same bands, we like the same clothes,” line from “Bobby Jean.”

Brownstein and her old Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss do share lots of ideas, and they are back together again, along with Helium’s Mary Timony and The Minders’ Rebecca Cole. After just a listen or three, Wild Flag sounds and raucous and wise and playful – always playful. I like the way it can blow barbed one moment, dreamy the next.  NPR is streaming it all week. It arrives via Merge next week. Go ahead, take some time to absorb.

Brownstein speaks about life at the SXSW fest in the spring. 

It’s The Man In The Mirror’s Birthday

More than a few allusions to Michael on last night’s VMAs, so let’s roll through a micro history. And never, never leave “Dancing Machine” off of your playlist.

Need a sharp cultural overview of MJ’s impact? Greg Tate summarized it well in the Village Voice a week after he passed.

“Motown saved Michael from Gary, Indiana: no small feat. Michael and his family remain among the few Negroes of note to escape from the now century-old city, which today has a Black American population of 84 percent. These numbers would mean nothing if we were talking about a small Caribbean nation, but they tend to represent a sign of the apocalypse where urban America is concerned. The Gary of 2009 is considered the 17th most dangerous city in America, which may be an improvement. The real question of the hour is, How many other Black American men born in Gary in 1958 lived to see their 24th birthday in 1982, the year Thriller broke the world open louder than a cobalt bomb and remade Black American success in Michael’s before-and-after image? Where Black modernity is concerned, Michael is the real missing link: the “bridge of sighs” between the Way We Were and What We’ve Become in what Nelson George has astutely dubbed the “Post-Soul Era”—the only race-coded “post” neologism grounded in actual history and not puffery. “

Take A Bow, Bruno Mars

VMAs Collapsed By Popdust

Nice job. I like Brit-Madge smooch better than MJ-LM smooch.

So Long Steve Jobs: Which iPod Soundtrack Song Is Your Fave?

I’m going with Jet. Anyone going with Feist?

See What Aerosmith-DMC Started: Wavves & GZA Whip Out Their Liquid Swords

Wu and the Wavves, that’s a worthy mashup. The Shaolin MC and the Cali stoners connected on Fuel TV’s The Daily Habit show. Maybe we could get DMX and the National on the same stage next.

Beyonce In Love: 2 Spins Of 1 +1

B’s called “1+1″ one of her favorite songs, and she sure sings the hell out of it. The new vid dropped last night. Which performance brings the most heat, the Idol debut or the studio track? One thing’s certain: all that church comes out when she’s on stage.

Of course, there’s always this pre-Idol green room rehearsal that shows of her vocal chops as well. 

Check the reviews of her recent Roseland shows:

New York Times

Village Voice 

VMAs Hurricane Edition: Which Clip Will Storm Through The Competition On Sunday Night?

Time to put your money on the table. Will it be Brit’s well-rehearsed post-apocalyptic writhing, Bruno’s pledge of love from the war zone of romance, Adele’s flair for martial beats and passion while sitting, or Katy’s big-assed retainer and its magical party powers? I’m thinking the latter, because we needed a “nerds just want to have fun” moment this year. Hit comments and weigh in.