This is long overdue, but a promise is a promise…
My favorite album art of 2009 (There’s no particular rhyme or reason to this. Just the covers that sparked the most conversations with my artistically inclined friends):
Kanye West and Lady (Mister?) Gaga canceled their Fame Kills Tour today. Bummer. Last year’s Glow In The Dark Tour was killer, and after watching West own a football field-sized moonscape for two hours, I’d been all atwitter (not that Twitter) to see what Kanye might have up hidden up his designer sleeve this time — not to mention how the enigmatic performer might respond to September’s Taylor Swift kerfuffle.
Alas, no dice.
Fortunately, Kanye’s canon of music videos provides more than enough spectacular visual aesthetic to keep my mind occupied while I wait for his next audio masterpiece.
“The Good Life”
“Heartless”
“Stronger”
“Flashing Lights”
“Touch the Sky”
“Can’t Tell Me Nothing”
UPDATE: The Flaming Lips are streaming “Embryonic” via Colbert Nation from today, September 16, until Monday, September 21. I’ve listened through twice and I can attest to its mind-melting awesomeness. Do have a listen.
I know it’s early, but I’m going to go ahead and call it. The Flaming Lips win the 2009 Magical Mystery Tour Award for Most Inexplicable Album Art for their upcoming (reportedly utterly schizo) double-LP Embryonic.
I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here. Is this Michael J. Fox getting stuffed during the basketball game at the end of Teen Wolf? Father Merrin casting demons out of a bearded Natalie Portman? Benicio Del Toro as The Wolfman? Someone explain it to me. I’m starting to freak out.
The only description artist Chris Cairns gives for this fantastically bizarre video is: “This one’s for my dad.” Pops must be a weird dude. Or a Basement Jaxx/Avalanches fan.
Speaking of which, The Avalanches’ MySpace status has been set at “clearing samples…” for quite some time now. Meanwhile, I’ve practically worn a hole in my copy of Since I Left You. Without a doubt, one of the best albums of the decade. Please sirs, may I have some more?
I’m so glad Paste Magazine didn’t fold when it seemed to face certain death earlier this year. The readers came to the rescue, opening wallets, purses and bank accounts to show their favorite indie culture zine some love.
And in the months following the donation drive, Paste has rewarded those generous readers with loads of unique content online and in print. This chart comparing District 9 and Plan 9 From Outer Space is just the latest (memorable) example.
Some videos burn viral forever. Others inspire ridiculous memes that evolve into pop culture phenomenon. And still others claw out of their “Flavor of the Week” graves to walk among the living (and feed on human brains) once more.
Dan Deacon’s “Drinking Out of Cups” has gone viral for the second time in three years thanks to Twitter and Sarah Silverman.
Contrary to Silverman, popular belief and logical explanation, the Baltimore glitch-pop master was NOT under the influence of LSD when he created this little gem back in 2003. In fact he was completely sober, flipping channels with the volume down and microphone in-hand, doing improv satire of Long Islanders.
The reptilian tough guy was added by Liam Lynch circa 2006. This would make a much more interesting alternative to the Geico Gecko, no?
It’s also worth noting that Mr. Deacon has an incredible beard.
This terrific Gawker diagram is pretty self-explanatory. The approval of the Republican Party is inversely proportional to the ratings of Fox News Channel. Someone could alert Sean Hannity, but I don’t think he’d shut up long enough to listen.
Does anyone else think the cover of Jay-Z’s upcoming The Blueprint 3 looks kind of familiar?
One of the incentives for sticking with CNN.com, even though its news priorities skew away from the essential and toward the absurd, is getting little gems of off-beat journalism like this.
Here are two immensely creative takes on the airline “safety” speech given on tarmacs around the world thousands of times per day. Tyler Durden couldn’t have done it better.
Virgin America - “A New Approach”
Air New Zealand - “Nothing to Hide”
In honor of this post by incredimarc re: Wes Anderson’s upcoming The Fantastic Mr. Fox, I thought it fitting to share a photo I snapped on my iPhone while touring the Denver Art Museum earlier this year. This is just one element of a massive installation titled Fox Games, by Sandy Skoglund, and it’s one of the most unique pieces of contemporary art I’ve ever seen. I know you’re not supposed to take photos inside galleries/museums, but in this case I just couldn’t help myself. Fantastic indeed!
While it’s shaping up to be a banner year for weird indie bands making great pop music, 2009 hasn’t been the best for album art. Sure, Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca looked pretty sharp with its two-color/Flickr logo-esque/inkblot design. And Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest made tapestry cool with the kids for a while. But overall there have been many more misses (I’m talking to you, Animal Collective) than hits.
Which is probably why I can’t stop staring at the cover of Delorean’s Ayrton Senna EP. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but it’s gorgeous. Natural setting + unnatural subject gets me every time.
This week’s BEST THING EVER: Tron Legacy trailer from San Diego Comic-Con. Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn. Lightcycles get a major upgrade. And Daft Punk provides the score. 2010 can’t come soon enough.
I have an idea who Johnny Depp used for inspiration when he conceptualized the Mad Hatter character for Tim Burton’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Disney’s Alice In Wonderland. Eat your heart out, Daniel Radcliffe.
Normally, a mag like Vanity Fair isn’t my kind of… umm… fare. I don’t have a lot of patience for celebrity news (albeit still more than I have for Bill O’Reilly). And even though it’s not as trite as People or Us Weekly, I still can’t help but wish VF would go the way of so many other glossy-covers in our post-print age.
But to take a copy of Sarah Palin’s infamously incoherent gubernatorial resignation speech and go through it with a fine-toothed editing comb is simply priceless. This thing is bleeding more than my first story at the old college newspaper. It’s bleeding more than Suge Knight after the 2009 NBA All-Star Game. It’s bleeding more than the cast of Saving Private Ryan. Even this kid is worried.
So here’s to you Vanity Fair. You may die out feeding the masses a mind-numbing puree of asinine celebrity drivel masquerading as intimate portraiture, but at least no one can accuse your editors of falling asleep at the wheel.
This is just the first page. It gets worse. The other 11 can be found in all their red-scrawled, first-grade paper glory here.
Hi. If you stumbled onto this site looking for the online home of America’s white bread, simply transpose the letters in your URL and have a nice day. If you landed here looking for the stream-of-consciousness multimedia ramblings of a white-bread American, you’re in the right place. Eat up!
