Paste Lists Top 100 Albums of 2007, Indie Kids React

While we here at Mindset compile our own Best of 2007 list, my best friend’s dad’s favorite music zine, Paste, has released its list, which features a whopping 100 albums. Coming in at #1 is The National with their gem of an album Boxer. I swear, The National are like the new Interpol, minus the ménage à trois references.

I’m not sure if the Paste website has the list up yet, but you can read it over at the Gum.

Some random observations:

- Arcade Fire are the new Radiohead. In other words, if they release an album, it automatically slots into the top 10 of any list.

- Radiohead are, well, Radiohead. They own lists like this.

- I like Feist, but I really wouldn’t show that album any top 10 love on my list.

- The new Modest Mouse is probably better than Good News… but it still can’t touch their earlier stuff.

- Wilco = Dispatch?

- Where’s critics’ darling The Field???

The Jesus & Mary Chain Stay Together

After a reunion performance at Coachella, the Jesus and Mary Chain are now back together recording a new album, their first since 1998’s Munki. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked to read this but I guess 2007 is the year of the reunion so why not make an album while they’re at it. The most pressing concern regarding this matter though is whether Scarlett Johansson will guest on the album.

Check out the full story with comments from William Reid here.

American Gangster

Thanksgiving evening i went with friends and my brother to see American Gangster. I’m not blogging to review the film, although i certainly recommend it. Instead though, i’m blogging to point out something spectacular in the movie.

In the movie, the character Moses Jones (played by the RZA a/k/a Prince Rakeem a/k/a Bobby Digital) sports a prominently featured Wu-Tang Clan tattoo on his left arm. Now some people, including imdb, cite this as a minor mistake in the film. However, true fans of the Wu will tell you that this need not be a mistake simply because the movie was set in the 60s… as the Shaolin, Wu Tang, and Supreme Mathematics (the founding principles of the Clan) have all existed since at least the 15th Century in the Chinese Dynasty if not the beginning of time.

So was it a goof by the editing folks? Perhaps. But it’s just as feasible that the RZA convinced the editors that the Wu is eternal and therefore it was left in.

The Apple Effect

I just ran into this article on a tech site. It looks at the effect that the recent Apple commercials have had on CSS and Feist album sales. It just goes to show you that everyone can appreciate good music, they just aren’t willing to find it. This is the argument for allowing your music in commercials, more so than anything Kevin Barnes has to say on the matter.

“Band: CSS
Song: Music is My Hot, Hot Sex
Commercial: iPod Touch
Numbers: 340 copies per week ballooned to 2,000 in the first week since the commercial release. It’s also number 15 on iTunes and 5 on iTunes ringtones. And the song has broken into the Pop 100 chart.

Band: Feist
Song: 1234
Commercial: 3 gen iPod Nano
Numbers: Feist originally debuted strong, but averaged around 6,000/week. Then in the weeks following the Nano campaign, sales grew to 14,000 first week, 19,000 the second, 28,000 the third and 20,000 the fourth. It was a first month bonus of nearly 60,000 sales and cumulative bonus of about 130,000.”

iPod Commercials Give Star Power [Gizmodo]

RIP Casey Calvert

Hawthorne Heights guitarist Casey Calvert died of unknown causes last night. The band’s official website released the news today.

“Today is probably the worst day ever. Its with our deepest regrets that we have to write this. Casey Calvert passed away in his sleep last night. We found out this afternoon before sound-check. We’ve spent the entire day trying to come to grips with this and figure out as much as possible. At this time we’re not sure what exactly happened. Just last night he was joking around with everyone before he went to bed. We can say with absolute certainty that he was not doing anything illegal. Please, out of respect to Casey and his family, don’t contribute or succumb to any gossip you may hear. We don’t want his memory to be tainted in the least. Casey was our best friend. He was quirky and awesome and there will truly be no others like him! His loss is unexplainable. As soon as we know more we will let you know.

Sincerely,

Hawthorne Heights”

Ready for some Christmas music?

Well, here is your first offering from Las Vegas’ The Killers. Check out their new video for the song “Don’t Shoot Me Santa”

Ted Leo – Since U Been Gone

I ran into this on the internet today. It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Watch the whole thing for a bonus song interlude in the middle.

100 Greatest Indie Albums EVER

Blender, the music publication that made half-naked girls cool again, has created a list of the 100 Greatest Indie Albums Ever. Not to spoil anything, but my reaction to #1 is “really? Well, I guess so.”

Meanwhile, my reaction to the whole list is something like, “Huh? Are you serious?”

Why is Strawberry Jam so high? That album dropped like two months ago. Why is the Feist album so high? I’m so over Clap Your Hands. That band was, like, so 2005.

It’s also interesting how an album like Return to Cookie Mountain made the cut once you consider it’s on a major label. I guess that’s the state of “indie” music today.

The list contains a ridiculous amount of recent albums and excludes so much actual good, groundbreaking music. No Jesus and Mary Chain. No Tortoise. No Godspeed. No Flaming Lips. No At the Drive-in.  No Beatles. Even a twee fun fest like Satanic Panic would have made my list over something like Art “Look at Us, We Formed a Band!” Brut.

Another Reunion

Another day, and another math rock band reunites.

Nowadays, it seems that every band is reuniting. It’s like that one year in the NBA when Reggie Miller, Allan Houston, and Penny Hardaway all announced there were making comebacks. That was a crazy year.

It has now been confirmed that indie noise rockers Polvo are having a 3/4 reunion at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Explosion in the Sky-curated event next May.

The rest of the lineup includes Broken Social Scene, Iron and Wine, Dinosaur Jr., Adem, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Animal Collective, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Eluvium, Ola Podrida, Lazarus, The Paper Chase, Four Tet, Ghostface Killah, and some instrumental band from Austin, Texas.

the day the music (read: post-hardcore/post-punk/thrash) died

experimental, post-hardcore group the blood brothers have announced that they are breaking up. this is bad news for fans of their music, but good news for mothers of the world as the blood brothers are no longer coming for your children.