Hey y’all, as of yesterday I’m 20. Nother bday come around. Had donuts for breakfast and korean food for dinner, some monetary gifts from relatives, doing some bday browsing, celebrations are still to come!

Meanwhile, at the garage part of town . . . 
The White Stripes released White Blood Cells.
With feedback and a very loud crunching chord, that is how this album begins. it’s more raw and primitive than its precursor but also sometimes quieter and even sweet in some places (looking at you “We’re Going to be Friends”, so lovely). Rehearsed for a week, recorded in 4 days, mixed and mastered in one, it’s on purpose crude sound a punch in the face to the slick R&B and pop of the times. All the songs rock hard, (“Aluminum” rocks even harder). It’s also quite simple in the instruments it uses: guitar, drums, piano, some organ, a tamborine, that’s it, this combination gave us songs like “Hotel Yorba” (easy 10), “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” (another 10), “The Union Forever” (with its allusions to Citizen Kane), and “Fell in Love with a Girl”, a firecracker of a song that never stops exploding and is not only is a 10×10, but also gave us one of the best videos of the century, courtesy of Michel Gondry.
The album will appear in all the best of lists and sell over a million copies. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTH71AAxXmM

I mean without lockdowns and vaccine mandates lots more people would be dead so…

If artists don’t want their music to be used in crassly commercial ways they don’t approve of, maybe they should stop selling their catalogues to venture capitalist fuckwads.

“you have to pinky swear to never invade anyone ever again” lmao what an idiot

Rough week indeed, but at least he’s got that tour with Arcade Fire to look forward to

This weekend marks 12 months since I quit drinking which is pretty weird to think about.

Been listening to the new Boys With Perpetual Nervousness album and it’s the best Teenage Fanclub album in years. It’s definitely going to soundtrack my summer. Aside from that I’ve spent the first week of school holidays on the couch playing Doom Eternal.

Someone else will probably highlight it too – this other song was #1 Dance, #1 UK, #1 Australia, #1 Italy, Europe, Ireland… Basically everywhere in the world except the US and Finland.

Kylie Minogue took over the rest of the world on September 8, 2001. That was the first week Alicia dropped out of the top spot, but “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” topped the UK chart on September 29, the day Alicia regained the top spot.

https://youtu.be/c18441Eh_WE

bit of a quadruple own here

1. Clue implies that the album Beck won the Grammy for didn’t deserve the win.
2. Guy confuses Beck for Ed Sheeran (missing the category theme for the second time)
3. Neither of the other two contestants knows who Beck is
4. Ken Jennings calls Beck “Ed Sheeran-like”

Just an absolutely brutal 20 seconds for Beck, you hate to see it.

I think I’m done with Stereogum. This used to be a great place to come and hear about new and unheralded artists. Now, it’s just turned into a shill factory for Founding Fathers’ delicate instruments. Last week, it was Ben Franklin’s glass tuba, the week before that it was George Washington’s faberge mandolin. What’s next? John Adams’ fiberglass hurdy gurdy?!?!? I’ve had enough! I hope the checks from the Library of Congress are worth losing readers!

“In the time of chimpanzees, this floppy-hatted troubadour likened himself to a monkey”