I’m a week into my three-week holiday in lovely London Town, and though I didn’t think it possible, I’ve fallen even more in love with this city (which is quite something considering it was rather stressful to begin with: first and second flights canceled due to the epic blizzard in New York; third flight massively delayed; didn’t get my luggage until this past Monday; phone completely broke – yay for my friend having a spare Blackberry). However, overall it’s been wonderful and me and London seem to get on pretty damn well. But more on my adventures later, let’s get to this week’s music news, shall we?
Tag Archives: MGMT
Moody Mondays Moody Mondays: Katie Melua
If you haven’t already heard of Katie Melua, you soon will. The Georgian-born, British bestselling female artist is already “Legend” (as they say) in the UK and is gaining momentum here in the states. This week, ChinaShop caught up with Katie to find out which songs take her to her “happy place.” The following are her picks this Moody Monday.
Mood: Yellow Summers
Daily Dots Daily Dots: M.I.A. is NSFW, Hugh Hefner, Nas & Damian Marley, BAPE vs. Converse, MGMT on SNL, Heavy metal Cumbia, Ricardo Villalobos, R.I.P the FLoopy Disk
Today’s bloggin best…
- M.I.A.’s very violent video for “Born Free” is highly NSFW. MIAUK
- The video for Nas and Damian Marley “As We Enter” is pretty tame in comparison. 2DopeBoyz
- A prize to anyone who can explain the difference between Bape Ape Sta and regular old Converse All-Stars (besides price, I’m sure). Complex
- The “floppy disk” is officially dead. Wired
- MGMT weird out on Saturday Night Live. Spin
- Heavy metal-Cumbia mash-ups are the new something or another. LA Weekly
- Ricardo Villalobos finally returns to America for Detroit Movement festival. Resident Advisor
- The Hollywood sign is saved by, who else, Hugh Hefner. LAist
Daily Dots Daily Dots: Coachella Count, Wasted Guy, MGMT, Crystal Castles, Obey, Sir Paul McCartney, Mr. Hudon, Kanye West, Danger Mouse, David Lynch, The XX, DJ Premier, Guru
Today’s bloggin best…
- Hey Wings fans. Sir Mac bails on EMI, goes the indie route with his catalog. Hypebot
- Rihanna receives socialized medicine in Switzerland. NME
- Coachella packs ‘em in. Grosses over $20 million. Billboard
- Unreleased Mr. Hudson (produced by Kanye West). Hypetrak
- “Wasted Guy” is this years “Naked Wizard.” URB
- Vampire Weekend have more new music on the way. TwentyFourBit
- “Cursed” David Lynch/Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse album gets release date. LA Weekly
- MGMT at number two, can’t beat the Bieber. Spin
- Don’t fear the leaker: Crystal Castles rush second album release. Village Voice
- Vote now for Beatport 2010 Music Awards. Beatportal
- The xx “Islands” video is stunning. BPM
- DJ Premier’s statement on Guru’s passing. Nah Right
- Obey readies May Day pop-up store in NYC. Format Mag
Featured Music Coachella Backstage With Yo Gabba Gabba
Coachella is known for it’s share of celebrity sitings and backstage antics. But when the entire cast of Yo Gabba Gabba hit the stage, and then backstage, real hilarity ensued. ChinaShop scored these exclusive pics from Coachella 2010 courtesy of Yo Gabba Gabba. Witness the antics with MGMT, Beth Ditto, LCD Soundsystem, Danny Devito and more.
(photos by jory & justin)
Music MGMT: Get Thee in Front of Me, Indio!
Anyone who nursed a prayer about escaping Coachella just before MGMT started their headlining slot Saturday night knew they were screwed when the crowd showed up. I don’t know if it’s just because it was night, and everything from venues to tents to people just seemed attached… but either way, it looked like the equivalent of the entire population of Indio and Palm Springs were there just to see MGMT. And when “Electric Feel” started playing, forget about it…I knew once I got sucked inside, I’d have no choice but to render unto Caesar — so I teetered on the outside of a mile-long mob and did my best to avoid the black hole. While slot precursors Faith No More have tagged their long-awaited reunion as “The Second Coming”, if one were to go by crowd alone, it might appear as though MGMT are the ones bigger than Jesus.
Music Tuesday Newsday: New Releases by MGMT, Coheed and Cambria, Bleeding Through and Jeff Beck!
This Tuesday the 12th sees guitar legend/former Yardbirds axeman Jeff Beck release his first album in 7 years, as well as the newest by pseudo-proggers Coheed and Cambria’s. Jazz aficionados get a spankin’ new opus John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension. For the metalheads, it’s another opus from Bleeding Through and their hottie keyboard player.
Jeff Beck - Emotion & Commotion
Blasfema – Galaxia Tropicalia
Bleeding Through - Bleeding Through
Jason Castro - Jason Castro
Coheed and Cambria – Year Of the Black Rainbow
Dosh – Tommy
Enter Shikari - Common Dreads
Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam
Kaki King – Junior
Matt Pond PA – The Dark Leaves
John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension – To The One
Natalie Merchant - Leave Your Sleep
MGMT – Congratulations
Murs & 9th Wonder - Fornever
Justin Nozuka - You I Wind Land And Sea
Christain Prommer – Drumlesson Zwei
Sightings – City Of Straw
Straight No Chaser – With A Twist
The Tallest Man On Earth – Wild Hunt
Trampled By Turtles – Palomino
Daily Dots Daily Dots: Liquid Liquid, Peepface, Jalbrak iPad, Sonic Youth, Dylan Denied
Today’s bloggin best…
- Dance-punk/hip-hop inventors Liquid Liquid made their first ever TV appearance in 30 year career. The Daily Swarm
- Introducing Peepface, the post-Easter drinking game for the kids. Holy Taco
- Sonic youth’s Thurston Moore To Lecture kids (not “the kids”) about avant-noise. Pitchfork
- MGMT coyly announce a coy cover of coy David Bowies’ “TVC15.” LA Weekly
- The jailbreak iPad is coming soon. iHackintosh
- Bob Dylan denied permission to play in China. Guardian UK
- New Big Boi track, “Shutterbugg” is a serious jam. The Fader
- This weeks Beck cover of INXS is much better than last week’s Beck cover of INXS. Rawk Blog
Oddity The Best Of April Fools Day 2010
April Fools day used to be a chance to play a gag on a few close friends. But with the power of the internet, a simple joke can reach the entire globe in the course of 24 hours. Here’s a few of our favorite online gags from yesterday’s mischivities.
Apple Swithes to Veranda (IDSGN)
With all the ongoing buzz about the iPad dropping this weekend, what a perfect time to mess with Apple. Considering that most Mac owners are the create types who immediately know that Veranda refers to a font, this is a gag that hit it’s target demographic.
Deadmau5 Hospitalised Following Fight With Felix da Housecat (Mixmag)
The key to a good April Fools prank is plausibility. Deadmau5 might be the newly crowned prince of American dance music, but rumors of him not being the friendliest rodent have been circulating for a while now. The only flaw in this gag was the off timing. Would it really take 5 days for news like this to hit the internet? Unlikely.
Pitchfork gives MGMT’s “Congratulations” a perfect 10.0 (Hipsterrunoff)
People have been making fun of Pitchfork’s rating system for almost as long as the website has been online. There’s even an entire site dedicated to critiquing Pitchfork’s reviews. Hipster Runoff’s mysterious Carls knows exactly where to prod the indie rock faithful, taking a jab at both their critical bible as well as one of the scenes biggest crossover bands.
Missing Manic Guitarist Turns Up Alive (BBC)
This is probably a clones site and not the actual BBC. Considering that Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared in 1995 in a presumed suicide, this gag certainly had the element of surprise. But the overall taste of jesting about such a tragedy is questionable.
TextP (YouTube)
Some pretty big companies got in on the fun. Google changed their name to Topeka for the day, but this elaborate YouTube gag offering a system that converts video into a text-based stream to save the company money is both super clever and ultra-geeky.
Music DVD: ‘The Heart Is A Drum Machine’ Asks The BIG Questions About Music
“What is music?” is a question that seems to be on the mind (or meme) of a lot of people lately. Last year’s best selling book This Is You Brain On Music took a scientific shot at explaining the phenomenon of rhythm, tone and timbre while indie documentary The Heart Is A Drum Machine takes a far more anecdotal approach to the question. In fact, anecdotal is what defines this film (released on DVD last week), which culls together 70-plus minutes of interview footage with an eclectic assortment of music practitioners and enthusiasts that range from Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante and actress-turned-rocker Julliette Lewis to comedy team Tim and Eric and scientist Ann Druyan.













