A link-heavy addendum to a review done a couple issues back. Japan's terminally mindblowing Cornelius is finally coming back here! Among other things, this will include a desperately waited for release of his amazing Sensuous (and I'm man enough to admit that I got that from pitchfork) on April 24. When I heard that he's playing Coachella, I started thinking long and hard about the benefits and potential risks of a second trip to there. Now that I know he's ALSO going to be touring the US, I couldn't me more excited. I'm sorry? What was that? Do you want to know WHY I'm so fucking pumped he's touring the US? I can provide most supreme evidence of that by asking you to simply click on this last link. ALSO as a side note, I am pleasantly blown away by the fact that the US label kind of enough to give Cornelius US distribution is Everloving Records, who's own Piers Faccini I reviewed a couple issues back.

... comes not from one of our esteemed musicians or music critics, but Jim Ridley, the film critic at our Southern sistah paper the Nashville Scene. Jim was actually using this to describe next year's sure Oscar contender Epic Movie, but I'm calling dibs to use this as a band name (once I meet a musician, and form a band, and learn to play an instrument): Feeble Fast-buck Shitbomb

Is it okay to sell band tee shirts out of my car before I have a band?

Briefly, I'm here to show you this: The DoddPod. So named for the smirking, sun-soaked gentleman to my left, Senator (and possible future president) Christopher Dodd (D-CT). In an attempt to try to tap in to what I can only assume is the techno-savvy Gen-Y demographic (read: people like you and me), the DoddPod is relatively simple, and actually has nothing to do with an ipod. All you do is suggest a song to Chris Dodd's campaign with the form, and he'll put it up with your message. Each song will inevitably be vaguely positive and so blandly ubiquitous that it'd be impossible to have a strong opinion about any of the bands without being labeled a music snob, moron, or both. The DoddPod is an omen of how ridiculous the internet/youtube/myspace revolution is. Here's why: who the fuck cares? Honestly. Do you think anybody else is going to check this website frequently? This season it's like every politician is a fountain of shitty half-baked ideas on how to scoop up the youth vote. Suggestion, do what Obama did: pull some strings and get amazing Kenyan bands into the US.

I'm sure by now that most of you who read this are aware our editor-in-chief, Will Swaim, has resigned. What you may not be aware of, however, is our boss's penchant for singing—constantly. Seriously. Dude sings more than Rebecca Schoenkopf does. Which is A LOT. Anyway. In memorium, I'm posting the official Will Swaim playlist. If Will owned (and could figure out how to operate) an iPod, here's what would be on it:

I could never understand why the biggest Southern California music festival is in the middle of the desert. To me, enduring triple-digit temperatures to catch the Pixies reunion just seemed like pure sadism on behalf of Goldenvoice. Nevertheless, Coachella always draws a crowd. And this year, the festival has grown to epic proportions.

Amidst the perpetual rumors of a Smiths reunion and the last-minute news of a possible Police show, Coachella's 2007 lineup was announced today. There's a ton of big names: Björk, Interpol, Sonic Youth, The Arcade Fire, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Decemberists and a bunch more.

The big news, however, is that Rage Against the Machine are reuniting just in time to headline day three. If you read Gustavo's story on Zack de la Rocha a couple months back, you'll know that de la Rocha had previously, as Gustavo put it, "gone Mexican" and eschewed his rap-rock roots. Well, turns out that he must still have a little rhyme in him because RATM is going to be back at their overtly-political thrashing pretty soon. My guess is that, at the very least, they'll be able to put a new spin on "People of the Sun."

My biggest qualm with this year's lineup? Red Hot Chili Peppers headlining the second day. I don't know how many more songs about California I can take, people. Seriously.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday, January 27th at 10:00 A.M via Ticketmaster.

M + B Gallery's GONZO show closes tomorrow. Says them:

GONZO began as a personal collaboration with Thompson prior to his untimely death, and has since come to completion with the support of his family and estate. The show will feature many never before seen photographs from Thompson's personal archive, including shots from his early days as a foreign correspondent in Puerto Rico, living in Big Sur in the 1960s, time on the road with the Hell's Angels, illuminating self-portraits, and many personal moments with friends and family throughout the years.

GONZO is a visual tour de force that will take you on an incredible journey through the life and times of the legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson. The iconoclastic American author developed his own style of writing that became known as "gonzo journalism"-a completely truthful, but not always factual, hands on method of reporting. With his numerous articles for Rolling Stone and other magazines, his acclaimed books including Hell's Angels , The Rum Diary , Curse of Lono and the seminal Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , Thompson influenced generations and established himself as an original and powerful voice in the political and literary world.

Catalog of HST photos including a lot of work from the Hell's Angel era here. This originally came from Arthur where you can currently find out about avatar incarnate Marjorie Cameron pictured here.

Guy edited all the dialogue out of a '60s Bakshi Spiderman. Little kids watched this for free on American TV.

Alice Coltrane...

...the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the adventurous musical improvisations of her late husband, legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, has died. She was 69.

According to Rob Gordon, there's an art to making a good mixtape. It takes some finesse, sure, but a list and a formula? Eh. But whatever method you subscribe to, it's time to polish up your skills because tomorrow is the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art's Save the Mixtape event.

The premise is that along with some live music (courtesy of Family Tree Analog, The Health Club and A Faulty Chromosome), the event will reinvigorate your passion for little plastic tapes. Go to hell mix-cds and playlists! The tape should have six songs on each side, totaling a whopping 12!

Once everyone shows up, there will be a big mixtape exchange and everyone will probably be a little better for it.

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art; 117 North Sycamore, Santa Ana; Sat., Jan. 13 at 8:00 P.M. Free with a mixtape!

Sad day for all ages rock, which is now back down to Chain Reaction, Plush Cafe and a few churches. SolArt owner Sali Heraldez wrote in seconds ago to announce that her gallery/cafe/experiment in human decency is ending:

We were given a 30 day notice to move out a few days ago. According to the owner, he is upgrading the building and will be renting to a "profitable business with a license." We are still in shock . . . of course . . . but nothing we can do.

I haven't been excited by any music in a long, long time.

Wait, wait. Was that pretentious enough for you?
No?

Well, how about this: I haven't been excited by any new music in a long, long time.

But Friday night's My Morning Jacket show at the House of Blues, Anaheim was the first concert in awhile that I was actually anticipating.

Hell, I was even standing on the floor and—lucky me—next to two thirty-something bros, double-fisting Rockstars and Budweisers, with Peter Pan complexes who felt the need to provide running commentary throughout the entirety of the show.

Elvis Perkins and his Dearland band opened up the show. The first time I saw Perkins live was at this past summer's Lollapalooza—sitting cross-legged on the grass underneath the shade of some trees, the breeze coming in from Lake Michigan (behind the stage) blowing through Grant Park—it was perfect. But Friday night's set proved to be a little mournfully slow for the restless House of Blues audience. However, Perkins managed to win over even the skeptics with the help of the Cold War Kids, who joined them on stage for two (Bro #1: What is this—The Last Waltz disc two???") of his more upbeat songs, like my personal favorite, "May Day!"

I've read somewhere that Perkins adjusts his setlists after gauging what he feels the audience can handle—the particularly heart-wrenching "Ash Wednesday" being a song he doesn't perform often live.

After the third or fourth melancholy (but oh so good) song, my friend turned to me and asked, "Are all his songs like this?" And then I explained that it might have something to do with the fact that his mother was on that American Airlines flight that had crashed into the North Tower during 9/11 and that his father (actor Anthony Perkins) had passed away from AIDS.

"Oh," she said. And then she diverted her attention back to the stage again. "I get it."

Perkins finished his set off with "Doomsday" (Bro #1's wife/girlfriend/whatever: "He sounds like Neil Young!"—he doesn't) and then it was time for My Morning Jacket, whose lead singer later remarked that Perkins is beautiful like a wisp of cotton candy.

The gloriously long setlist:
1. It Beats 4 U
2. Gideon
3. The Way That He Sings
4. What A Wonderful Man
5. Off the Record
6. Golden
7. O Is The One That Is Real
8. The Bear
9. Lay Low
10. Heartbreakin' Man
11. Wordless Chorus
12. Dondante
13. Phone Went West
14. One Big Holiday
ENCORE
15. Tonight I Want To Celebrate With You
16. How Could I Know
17. I Will Sing You Songs
18. Anytime
19. Run Thru

Admittedly, I actually disliked My Morning Jacket for years and years—it wasn't until I heard "Off the Record" (easily the "Maps" or "Float On" of 2006) one day in a friend's car did I give the band another listen.

You know, I've got to hand it to My Morning Jacket. They're definitely showmen, something not so common in these times of quiet bands that just play-and-leave. I'd love to shake the hand of the dude who takes care of their lighting: spot lights, slow strobe lights, fast strobe lights, backlights, toplights, pitch darkness staccatoed by bursts of spotlight in all the right dramatic spots! All of which totally created awesome lighting for their awesome hair. (And it was just bright enough to coo at the giant grizzly bear plushie in the poncho and Mickey Mouse sorcerer hat onstage.)

But Jim James' impassioned-but-dreamy, far-far-away vocals pierced through the darkness. Not to mention the many, many hair thrashing, guitar solos in a lone spotlight. It was all one big throwback to the sounds of classic rock—with cutesy indie rock losing its momentum, what else could explain the fact that shoegazer, psychedelia and alt-country have been deemed as cool once again?

And here's where I reach my disgustingly cliche (I called myself out on it, so you don't get to laugh, k?) conclusion: My Morning Jacket's just something you need to experience live. And not live like in a crowd of thousands at a X, Y, or Z summer festival live, but in a club, in the darkness, with a mass of fans feeding off every note, wail and flash of the strobe light.

Been slowly feeding my New Year's hangover, and I'm just starting to realize it's time to start going out again and also . . . reading! Recently, I finished Sound Bites by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos. Kapranos's account of all the meals he ate on wheels (on tour, a few years ago) is at once both a candid look at his childhood and current life among the jetset and a richly detailed food diary, perfect for foodies and novices alike. Stay tuned for a review in the music section on January 18th.

NOW, back to the music: if you don't mind standing in a church full of teenagers, you definitely won't want to miss the CD release party for Lightmusic's debut release, Twin. Three days' notice means you better be there on Thursday, January 11th at 3210 Airport Way, Long Beach, 90806. 8 p.m. and free and I love you. [P.S. Kevin the Intern drums for Lightmusic, but we hired him because he's really smart and love the band independently.]

If we're to believe the idealists out there, rock 'n roll is still (and always was) a hotbed of innovation and creativity. Now, without even getting into details, I can tell you that that is a big, heaping lie. Ever heard Jet? How about Godsmack? Yeah.

So, want to fuel your musical cynicism? Take a look at the attached image: that billowing '80s mane, that amorphous physique, those nimble little fingers: that's Eddie Van Halen! On a patent application!

Thanks to Google's brand-new and still-in-beta Patent Search, you can now scour millions and millions of patents once relegated to the (presumably) soul-crushing halls of America's vast patent offices. And while you could use the search for valuable and inventive purposes, it's far more entertaining to find out who among your favorite celebrities and musicians has felt important and inspired enough to patent their ideas. Case in point: Eddie Van Halen.

Issued in 1987 to Edward L. Van Halen, the above patent is for a musical instrument support that allows you to throw off the confines of the traditional guitar strap and enter some new, amazing 4th-dimension of guitar playing. Without it, you are doomed to guitar mediocrity. Sigh. Here's a clip from the patent's abstract:

The supporting device is constructed and arranged for supporting the musical instrument on the player to permit total freedom of the player's hands to play the instrument in a completely new way, thus allowing the player to create new techniques and sounds previously unknown to any player.

Of course, the patent hilarity doesn't stop with Van Halen. Turns out Harry Connick Jr. holds a patent for some sort of musical syncing device intended for large-scale orchestras. Also, Michael Jackson holds a patent for the "method and means for creating an anti-gravity illusion." Whoa.

But what makes this even more hilarious, as Kevin points out, is the fact that we wouldn't even be seeing these if it weren't for pure, unadulterated greed. I can't even fathom what patents could possibly come next. Capitalism, you're my hero.

Via Boing Boing and Ironic Sans

Happy new year! If 2007 goes right, you'll be able to count on this wee blog to keep you informed on all things . . . well, all things that we think you should like, I guess. That means: show reviews, band recommendations, random stuff from Ziegler and more contributions from (hopefully) more contributors. Got a band you'd like us to check out? Let us know. Or let me know. I'm here to help!

In the meantime, here's some upcoming shows you might like to see, if you don't already know about them:

My Morning Jacket @ the House of Blues on 1/5
Shadows and Dust @ the Blue Cafe on 1/11
Stephen Malkmus @ the Glass House on 1/12
Sly Stone @ the House of Blues on 1/13
Matt Costa @ Orange County Museum of Art 1/20
Brian Wilson @ Long Beach Arena 1/27

PLUS SPECIAL REUNION SHOWS
Sebadoh @ Detroit Bar 2/27
Bikeride @ DiPiazza's 3/3