Weekly Roundup 7/15 – 7/20

Cindy Hotpoint of The Rich Girls Are Weeping posts an interesting counterpoint to the New York Times’s apparent assertion that alt-country is dead. Cindy (and I) would like our combined readership (hers — likely thousands. Mine? 2 or 3) to know that these blanket assertions are all very well, but come on, alt-country is just a label slapped haphazardly on to a bunch of bands that probably didn’t know what hit them. Like I said a few posts ago, it’s just a classification.

At any rate, I contest strongly the idea that ‘alt-country’ is dead. I can list at least five bands I would classify as alt-country, all making records currently, all still together, and not all on Lost Highway records. Oh, you doubt me? Gasp! All right. Besides the ones Ms. Hotpoint listed in her post, there’re the Old 97s (or Rhett Miller, if you prefer), the Roy Owens Jr., the Deadstring Brothers, Ill Lit, and Two Gallants. Haley Bonar … Redbird … Golden Smog (yeah yeah, they’re just a side project) … The Rev Payton’s Big Damn Band … Jesse Malin … Rocky Votolato … Leaving TX … etc., etc., etc.

And the classifications begin to blur anyway. Maybe Redbird and Rocky are more folk, and maybe Rev Payton is more blues. Also, while I respect the NY Times, I would not have classified Neko Case as alt-country (subject matter too esoteric). But hey, that’s just me. Y’all slap the label on wherever you feel like it. I’m just sayin’.

Soooo…..which New Kid was your favorite? Over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, I was pleased to read that Heather’s favorite was Jordan. Cause in ninth grade, he was my favorite too, and my friend Emily taped their album for me, and I decorated the inside of my pink Trapper Keeper with a big giant “NKOTB.” Yeah, so what? Like none of you have a sordid musical past.

According to Great Body of Water, the Sufjan Stevens concert here at the Wiltern sold out in like, fifteen minutes. So all of you latecomers are just s.o.l. Curl up around your indie-blog-critically-acclaimed versions of “Illinoise” and cry. (Yours truly did not purchase a ticket, as she is still mighty ambivalent about Mr. Stevens.)

Via Largehearted Boy, Stylus Magazine is unveiling their top 100 music videos of all time. Please go forth and remember the days when MTV, like, you know … played videos. My sister and I used to be glued to MTV, and my favorite video was Peter Gabriel’s “Digging In the Dirt,” followed closely by Annie Lennox’s “Lovesong For A Vampire,” followed by the Cure’s “Catch.” Will they measure up? Stylus is releasing their countdown 20 at a time (they are up to 21), so check back.

MTV.com has bad news for all y’all YouTube lovers (including, of course, all the videos featured in Stylus’s article) — YouTube has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit. It’s unsurprising — everytime I watch something on YouTube, I wonder to myself, “Why is this service even allowed to exist?” I love YouTube, but someone’s always got to ruin the fun, don’t they.