Blonde Redhead : "My Impure Hair"

This is the final Mike Mills/Blonde Redhead collaboration for 23. And in some ways, this is the purest and most simple of the videos.

"My Impure Hair" is a delicate song, resting quietly at the closing of the album. After so much layering and stacking, thick with humidity, drug-swirls, an intangible sense of déjà vu and song after song of night-climbing city tracks, beautifully and perfectly wound into a soundtrack of concrete and post-modern thought, this track brings such sweet closure to this album destined for its place in the darkness. Its simplistic format beckons the morning sun, as it slowly rises above the end of all that was terrible about the night before.

I love how, with glooming bravado, the video slowly fades to black.

Dark Night of the Soul

I was recently pointed in the direction of some great music, by a friend of mine from Minnesota. She made a post of an upcoming/postponed (at the time) collaboration of one Danger Mouse, and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. The project was cleverly named, Dark Night of the Soul, a phrase coined by 17th century Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross. Naturally, I had to pursue the project.

Upon reading my friends' post, which referenced coverage by NPR, I came to find out that David Lynch himself had signed on to the project to do a 100-page book of original photography, inspired by the music of said collaborators.

Some research later, I have come to find that the project has been canned by EMI, due to some unknown copyright claim. It's become a "lost album," if you will. But let's not lose hope so quickly. After all, this is the digital age.

On June 15th, this "lost album" is going to be made available. There will not be a label-backed album release. Instead, Dark Night of the Soul will be releasing two versions of the same thing. The first is a poster and a blank CD-R. The second option is the 100-page Lynch-made booklet and a blank CD-R.

Underneath the ordering form on their website, a note is made: "Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to include music on the CD without fear of legal entanglement. Therefore, he has included a blank CD-R as an artifact to use however you see fit."

Wow.

I know what I will be doing on Monday.

Check out the official site below, and be sure to read up on the list of collaborators included in this project.

http://www.dnots.com/

Free live Coldplay album

LeftRightLeftRightLeft is the title of Coldplay's new, self-released, completely free live album. It's available HERE.

Check it out.

Be careful where you buy your coffee in the next few months; Starbucks set to play Hardball

Check out this corporate video for a taste of what is to come. (no pun intended)

DC Talk is of the devil!!! + Jimi Hendrix was a drug-crazed New Age occultist + a crucified monkey

You know, Jesus-is-savior.com is actually quite interesting. You should check it out.
No really. It's shocking, self-righteous, and it looks like someone went crazy with the exclamation points. Yeah, you know what kind of site I'm referring to. It's freakin' crazy.

ANYWAY, I didn't begin this post to tell my readers solely about this site. I intended to bring to attention a particular set of accusations against the group DC Talk, based upon biblical principles and truths. Or at least, that is what the author of this article states.

The article is entitled, DC Talk Exposed, and begins by introducing the "Jesus Freak" music video as one of the most popular Christians videos ever recorded. But, how "Christian" is it? (asks the following line) The author then goes into not-so-great depth to gorge this subject.

From here, we are told the director of the video is none other than Simon Maxwell, an Englishman and collaborator with the "satanic and blasphemous Nine Inch Nails." We learn that DC Talk was interested in roping him in for this project, due to his particular style, demonstrated specifically in NIN's "Closer." [side note: pay attention to anything with 3 or more exclamation marks (!!!), brackets, or anything that is CAPITALIZED]

And I quote,

The author refers to "Closer" as "ultra-blasphemous," pointing out the fact that the video shows a monkey crucified on a cross. It then goes on to quote Mr. Reznor himself,

"If you think I WORSHIP SATAN because of something you see in the 'Closer' video [with its images of a crucified monkey]- great!"
(Trent Reznor, People, Feb. 6, 1995)

ANNDDD for the conclusion: Because Trent Reznor talks about wicked, satanic blasphemy + DC Talk proudly admitting to watching Nine Inch Nails videos + liking those videos and hiring Simon Maxwell to direct their video = GOING TO HELL.

"And believe me there's NOTHING Christian about the video!"

End quote.

Here is the full article in its entirety:
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/dc_talk_exposed.htm


I want a lot of dialogue on this one. Share your thoughts. Let me know what you think about this article. Go crazy.

Is DC Talk a Boy Band? I think so.

What exactly can we classify or genre-fy, in the most culturally specific of terms, DC Talk to be? Are they a Christian rock band? Boy band? Some kind of R'nB?

In an interview with Alarnet TV, a no longer aired Christian music entertainment talk show, Kevin Max is asked if he was in "some sort of boy band, back in the day." He responds with a simple yes, and gives a brief explanation:

"I've always been into rock 'n roll, but the other two guys were in such reverse musical patterns at that time, that I think we came out as this, this thing that nobody could really put their finger on, and go, is it Pop? Is it AC? Is it a boy band? Is it R'nB? Is it Hammer? You know, they couldn't figure it out."

First, let's ask ourselves what constitutes a band as a boy band.

1) Limited creativity and overall input in direction of music.
2) When said band members don't play any instruments.

According to Allmusic.com, the three members of DC Talk were not comfortable playing instruments on their recordings. Instead, they decided to contribute only vocals to their albums.

Because of this, I am skeptical as to the level of which each member contributed musically and creatively, to the creation and production of each piece of music. Is DC Talk just a moniker for *Boy Band?

I suppose it's a viable conclusion to come to, if such a conclusion can actually be made. After all, I don't know any of the members personally, and aside from pieces of data here and there, the question remains unanswered. However, this I know: I will never listen to DC Talk again. I MEAN, the same again.



*If you like Boy Bands, be sure to check out these groups:

Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Take That, Westlife, New Kids On the Block, New Edition, The Monkees, B2K, Boyzone, BoyzIIMen, 98 Degrees.