November 19, 2009
Two things you can count on every year: the year will end, and there will be lists that piss off everybody. Being 2009, there's bonus piss-off potential because we get to objectively rank subjective pieces of art not only for the year but also for the decade. Fun! So we're happy to announce that the time has come for you to participate in this historically meaningful electoral process: In partnership with our sister site Videogum.com, we're opening voting on this year's annual Gummy Awards. You've been making your Album Of The Year lists since before this year started, so that shouldn't be too hard. (Pass through our Heavy Rotation to refresh your recollection some more.) We also want to know about your favorite video, what artists you crush on, and your pick for Best New Act and Album Of The Decade.
Of course, life is about more than just demonstrating your superior taste in music. Life is also about your demonstrating your superior taste in TV, movies, and viral videos -- i.e., the stuff covered every day on Videogum. So you'll be voting in those non-music categories too.
Voting is fun. But it can also be very lucrative. One randomly selected entrant in this year's Gummy Awards poll is going to win this lot of cool swag:
Continue reading The Gummy Awards 2009: The Most Meaningful Vote You'll Cast This Decade, Probably...
Posted at 2:40 PM in ,
latest by Lane
November 18, 2009
Busy Jersey-born favorites Real Estate slowed things down and classed them up on their excellent new self-titled Woodsist full-length. For instance, we first heard a speedier, electric "Green River" as the nugget-sized B-Side on the "Fake Blues" 7": Take a listen to the album's languid acoustic approach after you read frontman Martin Courtney's thoughts on the extended chill-out makeover.
This week we also offered the chance to win a DJ Hero bundle with game and turntable controller.
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CXV: Hear New Real Estate, Win A DJ Hero Bundle...
Posted at 11:35 AM in ,
Tags: DJ Hero | Real Estate
latest by toto
November 11, 2009
As we've mentioned, 19-year-old Santa Rosa multi-instrumentalist Ryan Schmale approaches That Ghost's fuzzy, spacious pop in a way that reminds us more of vintage garage rockers and Robert Pollard than he does his lo-fi peers. See, for instance, "Shouldn't Leave The Estate," a song from the forthcoming Get It And Get Out EP (11/17, twosyllable) that premiered in this week's Drop. Schmale told us about the isolation and agoraphobia that inspired the track. You can read his thoughts on it while you take a listen, hopefully from the safety of your home.
In this week's Drop we also offered the chance to win a USB Turntable and the Led Zeppelin biography When Giants Walked The Earth.
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CXIV: Hear New That Ghost, Win A USB Turntable & Zeppelin Bio...
Posted at 11:01 AM in ,
Tags: Led Zeppelin | That Ghost
latest by Scott
November 4, 2009
We've seen Secretly Canadian ABBA enthusiasts Music Go Music do "Warm In The Shadows" on an invented '70s talk show. This previously unreleased remix by German producer Fred Falke readies the Expressions standout for a different sort of club. MGM's Kamer Maza told us the track's "more emotionally ambiguous than the others on the record [...] so it is more reliant on the tone of the music to push it one way or the other." You can find out more about the song while you take a listen.
This week, we also offered the chance to win a ZT Lunchbox Amplifier, aka "The Loudest Little Amp In The World."
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CXIII: Hear New Music Go Music, Win A ZT Amplifier...
Posted at 11:01 AM in ,
Tags: Fred Falke | Music Go Music
October 28, 2009
In a very special Halloween edition of the 'Gum Drop, David "Moose" Adamson, aka Jookabox, told us "Evil Nite" -- "a song about the infection taking hold of a pure soul in limbo" -- is an early version of "Zombie Tear Drops" from his Indianapolis crew's zombie-inspired Dead Zone Boys (Asthmatic Kitty, 11/3). We kept digging. In fact, we dug so deep we didn't have room for the entire discussion in the newsletter. No worries, you can read his thoughts on Varg Vikernes, George Romero, Star Wars, "The Monster Mash," and, of course, zombies here.
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CXII: Hear New Jookabox, Win A Guitar Signed By Monsters Of Folk...
Posted at 10:30 AM in ,
Tags: Bright Eyes | Conor Oberst | Jim James | Jookabox | M. Ward | Mike Mogis | Monsters Of Folk | My Morning Jacket
latest by Michelle Simons
October 21, 2009
Ex-Ash guitarist and recent Bat For Lashes touring guitarist Charlotte Hatherley recorded her third solo album (and Minty Fresh US debut) New Worlds in a week in London without demos or overdubs. Fittingly, standout "Full Circle" looks emphatically at stripping away the extraneous. After speaking with Charlotte, we also learned it has something to do with Kandinsky's color theory. As she put it: "I loved his quest for finding the truth hidden in nature, and his experiments with our instinctive and emotional response to shapes and colors." Read the rest of her thoughts and try to remember what you learned in Art History while you take a listen.
In this week's 'Gum Drop we also offered the chance to win the last available copy of Tegan & Sara's ON/IN/AT deluxe edition.
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CXI: Hear New Charlotte Hatherley, Win Tegan & Sara's ON/IN/AT...
Posted at 12:43 PM in ,
Tags: Charlotte Hatherley | Tegan And Sara
latest by LeeZuhDimps
October 14, 2009
Laura Veirs' seventh album July Flame is out January on her Raven Marching Band imprint. The collection includes appearances by Karl Blau, Jim James, and Eyvind Kang, among others. It also includes 13 gorgeous songs. Like standout "Wide-Eyed, Legless." When we asked Veirs about July Flame's autumnal sounds she unpacked the title beautifully:
"July Flame" is: A destructive force, lamplight on a cold night, Oregon peach variety, intense summer love, fireworks, war, sunlight trapped in wood, renewal, spooky will-o-the-wisps, desire, pain, ephemera.
You can read her thoughts on the poetry of "Wide-Eyed, Legless" specifically while you give it a listen. (And if you like what you hear, she's posted the first two July Frame songs for free over at Raven Marching Band. Jim James howls on the opener.)
In this week's Drop we also offered you the chance win a pair of LaCie Sound2 Speakers.
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CX: Hear New Laura Veirs, Win LaCie Sound2 Speakers...
Posted at 10:29 AM in ,
Tags: Laura Veirs
latest by KARO
October 7, 2009
Former Ghosts is the reverb-soaked, emotionally raw synthpop project of Freddy Ruppert, Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart, and Nika Roza of Zola Jesus. Their fantastic debut Fleurs is out 10/20 via Upset The Rhythm. We premiered standout "Unfolding" in this week's Drop and spoke with Ruppert about the track. He gave us the specific background of the love song and part of the story behind Fleurs. We couldn't fit it all in the 'Gum Drop, but you can read all of it here after you take a listen.
Continue reading The 'Gum Drop CIX: Hear New Former Ghosts, Win A Kindle...
Posted at 11:33 AM in ,
Tags: Former Ghosts | Xiu Xiu
latest by CAROLYN NAVARRO
