Weekly Roundup

First of all, let me take a second to plug Akismet. If you’re running your own blog — on Wordpress or not — then you’re probably getting comment spam out the wazoo. I know I get more spam than comments (sadly) and Akismet stops them before they’re posted. I never have to do anything but delete them out of the queue. Akismet is the roxor! Seriously, just go get it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Celebrity quote of the week: “He should feel grateful that’s he’s [been] given the gift to write pop songs – which he needs to write again!” — Brandon Flowers, speaking of Thom Yorke.

Seriously, can this guy just shut up? He’s giving people with a mustache a bad name. Mr. Flowers, are you actually trying to put Thom Yorke in a class with your pappy, banal, status-quo, MTV-video-loving music? I remember the first time I heard “The Bends” — it felt like the top of my head was coming off. I don’t recall feeling the same about “somebody told me that you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend,” etc., etc. Thom Yorke’s crazy, and some of his stuff sounds like 12,000 keys jingling at the same time, but you, sir, are deluded. Like we used to say in sixth grade: “Silence, fool!” (source: The Observer)

Music

Along with Idolator, let us bow our heads and mourn the death of PoPoZao.

You can still stream the Decemberists’ “Yankee Bayonet” here. It’s freaking AWESOME. !!!!!! If you’re lucky enough to live in the Portland area, don’t forget to do what you have to do (no jury would convict you) to get into Colin Meloy’s living room concert.

Via Earfarm, you can download a copy of the Mountain Goats in Mount Pleasant, SC on Oct 19, 2004.

Video

Via Indie Don’t Dance, the video for Bjork’s “Bachelorette”. If you’ve ever wondered how to film a Bjork song, well, this is how to do it.

Fun times with Drug PSAs over at Cracked.

And, via Squirrel Food, we learn about the beautiful Sony Bravia ads.

Print

At Blender, you can read their take on the 50 Worst Things Ever To Happen To Music. At #22: “Lists That Reduce Rock History to a Series of Glib Soundbites.” Uh huh.

Rbally is auctioning off an iPod to help pay the medical bills of Rogue Wave’s guitarist. The auction ends in 4 days and you can still get a relatively cheap bid in. Won’t somebody please think of the children??!

Zoilus’s article on the Mountain Goats show is making the rounds. It’s really beautifully written, and it nails why I am now John Darnielle’s slave for life — MG is for words people. Nuff said.

Damien Rice news and mp3s from his forthcoming album “9.” I wonder if he’ll ever get to “1.”

John Mayer is a horrible singer, but “John Mayer Has A TV Show” was one of the funniest half hours ever. Now I’ve found John Mayer’s blog, and, as expected, it’s funny. I can’t believe I just typed “John Mayer” four times in three lines of text.