ZME Music

It’s called “We Take Care of Our Own,” and you can hear it via a lyric video he uploaded to YouTube.  You can stream it below.  The song is the first single off of his forthcoming record Wrecking Ball, which is due out on March 6.

In typical Boss fashion, it’s got not-all-hope-is-lost working-man lyrics, chiming guitars, and an anthemic chorus.  So, yeah, it’s a Springsteen song.

So on the heels of hearing about a reunited At The Drive-In, we hear that fellow ’90s punk icons Refused are getting back together and are schedule to play at music festival giant Coachella in April.

As for the explanation behind the reunion, there’s a wordy explanation (just like the explanation for the break-up back in ’98) on their official site.  Besides personal reasons, they claim:

We never did “The shape of punk to come” [sic] justice back when it came out, too tangled up in petty internal bickering to really focus on the job. And suddenly there’s this possibility to do it like it was intended. We wanna do it over, do it right. For the people who’ve kept the music alive through the years, but also for our own sakes.

So get excited for this.

Oh, and by the way: ATDI are also playing Coachella. (Full list over at Coachella’s site, via Pitchfork.)

Get REALLY excited.

First: After two and a half years – an eternity within TMV’s world – we will finally have a new record this year, their first since 2009′s Octahedron. (Which I loved, by the way).  They have yet to make a bad record, so this is something to get excited for.

Second: Even while TMV are prepping a new album, At The Drive-In are GETTING BACK TOGETHER.    The announcement came in the form of a Tweet: ” AT THE DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS …NOW…OPERATIONAL”

Fuck and yes!

Americans like stuff, right?  They like capitalism and democracy and friends and love and fast food and coffee.  Right?  Polls show that Americans like stuff, so they must like stuff.  It’s simple logic.  And it further stands to reason that because they like stuff, they know what kinds of stuff they like.

So here’s the thing: If Americans, as a friend put it, “want cake, give them cake,” then you’ve effectively given Americans exactly what they asked for, right?  Well, kinda.  You see, the problem with Americans is that, in actuality, they don’t know what they like or want – from anything.  Not to get too political here, but a cursory glance at the Republican presidential primary race demonstrates that.  They don’t like any of the candidates, and yet they vote for them anyway.  Further still, even with a winner, it’s too close to really call.

It’s even worse with music  because when Americans ask for one thing, they like and ask for it until they get indigestion.  And then continue demanding it.  So, to extend my friend’s analogy, Americans want cake and will clamor for it until they either puke it back up or develop Type 2 Diabetes.  Look at the the current trend in pop music: the complete domination of Eurotrash synthop within the ranks of Billboard.  It’s been here since 2007 and there are no signs it’ll go away soon.  T-Pain’s auto-tuning the hell out of every singer he could find didn’t last 5 years.

Which brings me to “Sexy and I Know It.”  You see, this particular number one single isn’t a song.  Instead, it’s an amalgamated clusterfuck of every stupid, insipid, and creatively bankrupt hit single of the last 20 years.  On top of that, LMFAO and critics alike have the balls to parade this shit-sandwich around as novelty and allow LMFAO to claim they’re funny without question.  Really?  Funny?  I mean, the video for “Sexy” is humorous (because it’s so goddamn over-the-top), but as for the song itself…not so much.  They’re certainly trying to be humorous but it’s so forced: “When I’m at the mall, security just can’t fight ‘em off/ And when I’m at the beach, I’m in a Speedo trying to tan my cheeks.”  Ugh.  The song’s lyrics are painfully stupid.

But the lyrics are just a part of the problem.  There’s the also the rest of the song, which is basically the talk-singing ridiculousness of “I’m Too Sexy” meets the nausea-inducing elasticity of “Like a G6″ meets the mantra-esque chorus of “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and “My Humps.”  Keep in mind, though, that when a student borrows from many sources and “creates” something new, s/he has to cite sources or find themselves receiving accusations of plagiarism.  When a band does it, it’s called a hit record.  Normally, though, when an artist borrows from others, the idea is to take what was already there and expand upon it until something new is discovered.  LMFAO, however, seemingly just browsed Youtube looking for hits and lumped the most earwig-iest ones together.  They left out that last step of having an original idea.  Sure, they wrote the lyrics but the concept (used loosely here) is just “I’m Too Sexy”  welded to ego.

That all of this went unnoticed by the American public – and that they (thought) they liked it – is the key to the song’s (trolling) success.  Thing is, “Sexy and I Know It” isn’t a hit song at all.  It’s LMFAO fucking with us.  They made us convince ourselves that what we wanted – what we liked – was more of what we already had.  All they did was repackage it, and wrap it in a polka-dotted speedo.  LMFAO ftw?

Since her sudden death of July 23rd 2011, Amy Winehouse has been the focus of more tributes than can be counted. From Bruno Mars at the VMAs to Green Day at their secret show, quite a few high profile artists have thrown their musical hats into the ring of Amy tributes. Not to say all of these aren’t sincere, but the truth of the matter is that most of these artists had most likely never been as affected as a true Brit. That’s where Matthew Beer’s Fallen Asleep is different.

Born in Birmingham, Matthew has been a songwriter since the tender young age of six. Although never what we may define as  famous, he was featured in the Times newspaper after performing at the National History Museum of London’s Blue Whale Room. So let’s get to the point: why does this ‘commoner’ stand out so much in the midst of A-list tributes?