Browsing Tag

David Byrne

Music

Interview: Nicole Atkins on her new album, Slow Phaser, and what it’s like to be Springsteen-approved

For some magical reason, one of my favorite musicians, Nicole Atkins, did an interview with me for my blog.

As some of you may know, I’ve gushed about her before with a blog post titled “Lady Crush of the Day: Nicole Atkins.”

I guess that post didn’t scare her away (or she hasn’t seen it yet), and she was kind enough to talk with me about her brand new spankin’ album, Slow Phaser.

Slow Phaser is fucking awesome.

And I as I told Nicole is our email exchange, I’m not one to use superlatives. It truly is a work of art that just keeps knocking your socks off, song after song. How can album inspired by Peter Gabriel, Ennio Morricone, Morphine and King Crimson not be? Slow Phaser is a delicious stew of musical genres from the past four decades; it’s guaranteed to blow your mind.

You can get a sneak peek of the full album over at Paste right now. Listen from the beginning to end; every song is magical, but if I had to pick three or four (which is difficult): (more…)

January 31, 2014 by hipstercrite

For the Love of Nerds

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved nerds.

The thicker the glasses they wore, the better. Even more attractive than coke bottles was social awkwardness. At eight years of age I loved my men weird and near-sighted.

When most of my peers were carrying notebooks featuring the profiles of NKOTB, I was doodling the name, “Mrs. Emmett Brown” over and over in my notebook. A few years later, I would lay my plastic figurine of Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm on my pillow and whisper made-up paleontology talk in his dog-nibbled ear. At sixteen I would catch myself losing complete control of my bladder while watching David Byrne dance in the concert documentary Stop Making Sense. Every time he would flail his arms around or choreographically trip, I’d seal clap in delight.

Even now, my boyfriend is what I describe as a “nerdy cowboy.” Social discomfort is not something he suffers from, but what he lacks in awkwardness he makes up for in his math degree and his desire to move to space. (more…)

January 28, 2012 by hipstercrite

Music, Pop Culture

Can Musicians Be Artists Too?

source

I have a Google Alerts set up for David Byrne.

Unfortunately, a lot of people on this planet are named David Byrne.

Sometimes I am alerted of news stories about David Byrne the musician.

Like about how the soundtrack for “This Must be the Place” has been released, even though the movie hasn’t been released yet because it supposedly sucks ass. It upsets me that something named after the greatest song on the planet can supposedly suck butt so badly.

Most of the alerts are crap, but once in a blue moon I get an interesting story about David Byrne in my inbox. One that caught my attention recently was from the Spectator Arts Blog (an UK publication) and titled “An Inflated Sense of Their Own Artistry“. In it, the writer, Niru Ratnam, lambasts musicians like David Byrne, Ron Wood, Iggy Pop and David Bowie for- get ready for it- making art!

“Imagine for a moment the following grouping: David Bowie, the former Clash bass player Paul Simonon, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie (more…)

November 30, 2011 by hipstercrite